Red Horizon
by aslycsi1315
Summary: During a routine investigation, the team discovers dangerous secrets of the agency,some involving Granger. Once news of the team's discovery breaks, their lives are put in danger,leaving them no choice but for them to run for their safety.
1. Chapter 1

**Shadow Beach, Southern California**

The unusually warm waves coming from the Pacific Ocean gently crept up to the shoreline on a warm September evening. Nightfall had arrived, forcing locals and tourists to the comfort of their homes. Only a few remained on the beach, four surfers trying to catch a last wave and a small brunette standing in the sand. She stood alone, taking in the warm ocean air and the quietness that came with an empty beach. It was a momentary solace for the brunette, more of a reminder of California's beauty.

Her moment of solace quickly ended when she spotted the shadows of two figures approach from behind. She knew instantly who they were and why they were there, the figure standing behind her needed no introduction.

"It's nice, isn't it?" she asked the figure in a near whisper. He placed his hands behind his back and sighed, a sick feeling passing through him due to a dislike towards the smell of sea salt. "You know why I'm here," he finally stated after a minute or so had passed.

"I know. My question to you is why now? You've had a week to make your move. Why so late?"

"I was busy," he said in a sarcastic tone. It caused her to look up at him in disgust. "That's crap and you know it, Owen."

Owen Granger stepped in line with her. "Hetty, I've been dealing with a lot of crap lately because of your team so excuse me if I didn't show up according to your schedule." Henrietta "Hetty" Lange smirked at his comment, reading straight through his lies. "Your words are crap, Owen," she snapped back, "Your timing of finding me and the Director's decision regarding my team seems to be more than coincidental. It was planned."

"Now why would I do that?"

"Because of your ego, my dear."

Granger pulled Hetty's arm and sent her a dark glare. The dark, threatening look in her eyes seemed to repel his glare in seconds. "I'm not going to ask you again-"

"Then don't."

"Last chance. Where is your team?" Granger asked bitterly. The man that he had come with, a NCIS agent, was becoming restless. If they were going to do something, it needed to be done now.

"I have no idea," Hetty answered, "And even if I did know, I most certainly wouldn't tell you. I would have gone to the Director myself."

"And tell him what? How under your watch, a rouge LAPD cop ran loose around Los Angeles and killed nine people? Or would you mention the three- or in your book- four agents that are running around Europe with top-level government secrets in their heads? How would the Director take that they are a danger to our national security and you let them go?"

"I'd have to tell him first to know how he'd react."

"Oh, that is it!" Granger motioned over the NCIS agent and stated, "Henrietta Lange, you are under arrest for obstruction of justice, aiding and abetting four felons that have committed treasonous acts against the United States. You have the right to remain-"

"Let me stop you right there," Hetty said as she was handcuffed, "I am not aiding and abetting four felons, I am aiding four individuals who are innocent and running for their lives." The agent gave Hetty a gentle push towards the road where a government vehicle was parked. Hetty was walked towards the vehicle as Granger exclaimed, "Running for their lives? They went digging into things that should not have been looked at- they did things that are considered to be treasonous! Now, Blye, Callen, Hanna, and that runt of a detective-"

"Ex detective-"

"Whatever, ex detective, probationary agent-I really don't give a damn what you want to call him. All of them are going to jail when I find them. And remember, I will find them," Granger warned. Hetty smiled at his statement. "I don't doubt that for one second, Owen. When you do find them and they are exonerated, I will enjoy watching the Director strip you of your badge and send you to jail."

Granger gave Hetty a push and told the agent, "Get her into custody." He then turned towards the ocean where the ocean horizon now had an orange hue to it. In the water there were only two surfers left, both now sitting on their surf boards. One was a redhead, who had kept her body facing away from Granger during his entire argument with Hetty. Next to her a blonde male with short cut hair paddled around in the water on his surfboard. Granger felt as if he could almost place the blonde male, but the distance made it hard.

In the ocean, the blonde male paddled in a complete circle before noticing that Granger was gone. He turned to the redhead and said, "Granger's gone, Nell."

Nell Jones winced and said, "Thank God he didn't notice us, especially since neither of us knows how to surf."

Eric Beale nodded his head in disbelief. "Yeah….that's the least of our problems, though. He arrested Hetty, which means he'll be coming after us next. What do we do?"

"We do what Hetty told us to do; stay low and out of sight." Nell pushed herself towards the shore and heard Eric slowly paddling behind her. Once they had reached the shore, Nell slipped off her ankle leash and found herself looking back at the horizon that Hetty had just observed. It had now turned a reddish color as the sun seemed to go further and further away from them. Nell disliked it, the color made a chill run down her back, which Eric noticed. "You alright?"

"I don't think I've ever see the horizon look like that," she answered, "It's weird and dark. It reminds me of….why do I get the feeling that this isn't going to end well?"

Eric gently placed a hand in hers. "Come on, we need to go, but Nell- don't worry about the team. They'll be alright."

"I wish I could believe that," Nell said as they trudged through the sand, "I really wish that I could. How the hell did one little case blow up in our faces like that?"


	2. Chapter 2

**2 Weeks Earlier- NCIS Office of Special Projects**

"I'm resigning."

Hetty looked up quickly to see LAPD Detective/NCIS Liaison Marty Deeks standing in front of her desk. It was early on a Monday morning at the office; only Deeks, Hetty, and a few janitorial staff were in.

"Excuse me?" Hetty asked. She had put so much work into Deeks; she was shocked that he wanted to resign. He had fit in nicely with the team and had excelled beautifully in his position. Deeks had been handpicked by Hetty for a reason and quitting would ruin her plans for him: to become a future NCIS agent.

"I'm resigning from my position as Liaison officer…..and from the LAPD," Deeks stated. He handed Hetty a resignation letter and an NCIS application file. "Everything in the application file has been signed and dated."

_It's about damn time, _Hetty thought. "I gave you this file months ago, Mr. Deeks. Why now?" Deeks sat down on one of the seats and sighed. He looked in terrible condition to her, no doubt due to an operation that had gone wrong the day before.

The team of Special Agents G. Callen, Kensi Blye, Sam Hanna, and Deeks had crossed town to take down Serbian human traffickers in a warehouse at the edge of the city. It was supposed to be simple, four arms dealers, in the team's eyes, was supposed to be quick and easy. Unfortunately, everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. Bad Intel had underestimated the number of men; when the team had arrived, they had found themselves against twenty one men. Due to what had been seen as "dumb luck", the team had made it out alive only with moderate injuries. The worst injury of the group was Kensi's wound from a gunshot that had nicked her arm. It had occurred when Deeks had his back turned, when he had believed that there was an enemy hiding in a spot behind him. An honest mistake to most was a bad move to Sam; in his eyes, Deeks' move could have killed Kensi. His partner had claimed that she wasn't angry, but the look in her eyes had told him otherwise.

"I had let the team down yesterday- it shouldn't have happened. I'm behind and this is the second time that someone else's life was put in danger because of it." Deeks paused when he remembered his shooting from the year before. Kensi could have died if he hadn't had stuck to a relaxed schedule. He cared deeply for his partner, feeling guilty for almost getting her killed twice due to his mistakes.

Hetty nodded, leaning back in her chair with her hands clasped. "And you think becoming an agent will help? I advise you only to do this if you really want to become an agent."

Deeks chuckled. "It's funny, Hetty. Ever since you gave me that file, I've been wondering about my position at LAPD and NCIS. It's time."

"And it took you-what, nine months to realize this?"

"I'm a unique thinker," a grin appeared on his face, "I like to ponder things for a while, then let them sizzle for a few days, and then come back again-"

"Mr. Deeks," Hetty laughed, "No need to explain anymore. I'm happy to have you fully on board. I'll call the Director as soon as possible and speak with him about your application. "

"What do I do now?" Deeks hesitantly asked. He hoped that he wouldn't have to spend the next seven months training without a job. Hetty picked up the phone and dialed the NCIS Washington office number. "You first need to officially resign from LAPD."

"What if the Director turns me down?"

"Nonsense- you will become an agent, if I have anything to do with it. Go turn in that resignation letter, quickly, Mr. Deeks. I believe we have a case today."

Two hours later, Kensi placed her bag on her desk next to Callen, who was munching on chips. Along with Sam, Callen gave Kensi an friendly smile. She smiled graciously and asked, "What's up?"

"We're ok. How about you?" Callen's eyes darted over to Sam, who was glaring at the bag of chips in Callen's hand. Kensi caught the interaction and sat down. "I'm fine- I was only skimmed. How about you guys? Worrying about Callen's eating pattern again, Sam?"

"That's the third bag he's had this morning. G, I can't have you having a heart attack while we're on a case," Sam said to his partner.

"That won't happen, Sam. We've been partners for five years and it hasn't killed me yet."

"Oh, yeah. Be cocky about it- watch you'll keel over tomorrow and then what?"

"I'll haunt you forever?"

Kensi looked over to Deek's desk area as Callen and Sam continued to playfully argue. She hadn't seen the detective since the night before. When she had checked out of the hospital, Deeks had offered to stay with her, but she turned him down. Kensi hadn't wanted to talk or listen to apologizes, she had only wanted to sleep.

"You heard from Deeks?" Callen asked, snapping Kensi out of her stare. "No, I-I haven't. He's supposed to be here today, right?"

"Last time I checked-" Callen was cut off by the sound of a loud whistle coming from the stairwell. The three agents looked up to see Eric standing with a whistle. "We have a case," he said.

"Here we go," Callen muttered, jumping up and tossing his chips away. Sam followed him, nodding his head in disbelief at his partner. Kensi stood to follow them, but stopped when she saw a hectic Deeks sprint into the OSP center. He dropped a box onto the ground near his desk before looking up and saying faintly, "Hey, Kens."

"We have a case," she responded before darting up the stairs towards the OSP main room. Deeks watched her go before thinking, _Everyone is still mad. I guess I'll them about my decision another time._

Deeks walked into the operations room and found the team and Hetty standing next to a gentleman in a charcoal colored suit. Deeks instantly recognized the man's badge to be an Interpol ID.

"Mr. Deeks, this is George Lyons, an agent for Interpol. Assistant Director Granger invited him to be an observer on our newest case," Hetty said. She gave Lyons a suspicious eye before directing Eric to start the case.

"The Naval Air base in China Lake, California just reported three petty officers lying dead in a jeep by the base. All three men appeared to have gun shots to the back of the head," Eric said as he pulled up crime scene photos. "These were taken by two officers that found the bodies, according to them nothing was touched."

"That's strange," Sam said, "How do you get two dead Navy personal just lying in a car outside of a base? Someone had to have heard the gunshots go off, Eric."

"Actually, this naval base is sparsely populated. I think a missile could go off in the area and no one would notice." Kensi stepped forward and asked, "When did this happen?"

"Two days ago." The room instantly silenced, each team member staring at Eric in disbelief, The tech operator put his hands up in defense, "Don't shoot the messenger! They wouldn't say why they waited- they just wanted us to go up there."

"Alright, we can figure this out on our way there," Callen directed, "It's a three hour trip." He turned to Lyons and asked, "I assume that you'll be tagging along with us?"

Lyons didn't respond as his focus was on Deeks. The detective was glaring him down with crossed arms. Kensi gave him a nudge and asked, "Deeks?"

"I'm still not understanding why you'd want to observe or even why you are observing us in the first place," Deeks told Lyons. The Interpol agent shrugged, "Director Granger's request. I won't be a bother."

Deeks glared at the man suspiciously, his suspicions going into overdrive. In the eighteen months that he had worked at NCIS, he knew that things that didn't feel right, especially things coming from Granger, usually weren't right. Kensi stepped towards the door and tugged on his arm, "Ignore Detective Deeks, Lyons. Let's go."

"We can take two cars. Lyons, how about you ride with us?" Sam suggested. Lyons caught Deeks' annoyed look and said slyly, "I think I'll ride with Kensi and-what was it, Deeks?"

_Bastard, _Deeks thought as Kensi nodded in agreement to Lyons' statement. While the rest of the team and Lyons left the room, Deeks walked over to Hetty and said, "Something's not right about this, Hetty-"

"I agree with you, Mr. Deeks. Keep an eye on Mr. Lyons for me, will you?"

"Of course….Quick question, though. Because at LAPD I work with such _friendly_ people who almost went skipping at the news that I was leaving LAPD, I don't have a job starting tomorrow night. Will I-"

Hetty patted his arm and said, "Don't worry, you'll have a place to go. Just focus on the case, alright?"

Deeks took a breath and said, "Ok."


	3. Chapter 3

**California State Route 14- 80 miles from China Lake, California**

Deeks sat in the passenger seat while Kensi drove down the highway towards China Lake. Sam and Callen led in Sam's Challenger and Deeks, Kensi, and Lyons were following in a silver SUV. The trip so far had been a quiet one as Deeks had spent his time watching the road, Lyons had typed silently away on his PDA, and Kensi had driven in silence.

Deeks had also spent the first part of the trip, stealing glances at Lyons whenever he could. He knew that the team didn't trust the man, but the other team members had kept their suspicions to himself. Through his own conclusion, he believed that Granger had a special agenda for Agent Lyons. Unfortunately, the soon-to-be-ex-detective had no proof and no allies to discuss his ideas with.

"Granger told me that you two are usually a chatty pair," Lyons suddenly asked from the back seat. The pair only grunted in response, Kensi in annoyance and Deeks half mindedly.

"So how long have you two been working together?" Lyons asked next, not looking up from his PDA. Deeks glanced over to Kensi who didn't respond or look in his direction. Defeated, Deeks turned his attention back to his window and said, "Almost two years."

"Wow, I wouldn't have guessed it," Lyons remarked, "I'd thought you two would have stripped each other down by-"

"Don't say another word," Deeks snapped.

Lyons smiled and rubbed his neck, "Do you have a problem with me, Detective?" he asked.

"That was inappropriate….so shut the hell up," Deeks growled. He almost turned in his seat to face Lyons, but stopped at Kensi's murderous glare.

"Kensi, he just insulted-"

"Don't, Deeks. Not now- just….just leave Lyons alone. Alright?"

"Fine." Deeks shot Lyons a warning glare before quieting down for the rest of the trip.

**Naval Air Weapons Station- China Lake, California**

Kensi pulled the SUV up behind Sam's Challenger and stepped out. Sam and Callen were leaning against the car hood, chatting while waiting for the SUV. In the middle of her irritability, they had lost the Challenger, arriving ten minutes later.

"Did you get lost?" Callen asked casually as Kensi walked over to them. Deeks jumped out of the SUV but stayed by the SUV. He wanted to avoid as much conflict with Callen and Sam….especially Sam.

"No, we just-we're here ok!" Kensi snapped. Lyons walked up behind her and motioned towards the base main office. "Shall we?"

"You heard the man, let's get to it," Callen said. He started off to the base office with Sam and Kensi. Lyons took a quick look at the hesitant detective before following the agents with a smile on his face. _Bastard! _Deeks thought before running after the team.

Once in the office, the team and Lyons spotted an official standing near the secretary with a scowl on his face. Sam pulled out his badge and called out, "Chief Petty Officer Williams?"

Williams nodded and grunted, "Yes?"

Sam pointed to each team member, "I'm Special Agent Sam Hanna and this is Special Agent G. Callen, Special Agent Kensi Blye, Interpol Agent George Lyons, and LAPD Detective Marty Deeks."

"What the hell does Interpol and LAPD have to do with this?"

"Lyons is observing," Deeks stated from behind the group, "and I'm the Liaison officer." _Until tomorrow_,he thought.

"Fine," Williams snapped, "I'll take you to where we have the evidence." He pushed passed the agents and started walking towards a small hanger at the other end of the base. The team followed him with Lyons trailing behind them. Deeks spotted that Lyons was once again on his PDA, furiously typing away as he walked.

When they arrived to the hanger, Williams swiped his key card which opened the entrance. They all stepped inside, seeing a green jeep sitting at the front of the hanger. It appeared untouched, which was a relief to the team.

"We left Los Angeles as soon as we got the news. Can you identify the victims?" Sam asked, approaching the vehicle with Callen. Williams said, "Petty Officers Hunter Heath, June Lance, and Blaine Smith."

"When exactly did this happen?" Callen asked, kneeling beside the passenger door. He could see three .22 caliber shell casings on the floor of the driver's seat.

"We're not exactly sure when; two officers found the bodies, told us, and then I called you guys in-"

"Two days later," Deeks said, cutting Williams off, "Why did you wait? And how does three gunshots go off and no one hears it?"

"Detective," Williams snarled, "If you're thinking that we're covering something up, you're wrong!"

"If there's a legit reason behind you waiting, just tell us," Sam said calmly. He shot Deeks a warning glare to back down before returning his attention to Williams. "We had good reasons for the delay, Agent Hanna. All you need to focus on right now is solving the case."

"Can you tell us anything about the petty officers?" Kensi asked. Williams pointed towards the vehicle and snapped, "Agents, everything you need is in the damn vehicle. There should be a file on the back seat with everything that you need. Your Assistant Director told me that you'd all be very cooperative in this case-"

"There's barely anything in here," Deeks said, once he had picked up and read the file. "This can't be all you have on these men."

"Yes it is, Detective. Now if you excuse me, I have work to do." Williams walked out of the hanger before anyone else could say a word. A minute of silence passed before Deeks pulled out his cell phone and dialed the Ops Center.

"Hey, Deeks," Nell answered in a bright voice, "What can I do you for?"

"I need you to get me all you can on," he glanced over the names in the file, "Petty Officers Hunter Heath, June Lance, and Blaine Smith. Also check out Chief Petty Officer Williams."

"Alright, give me a few and I will call you back-"

Deeks stepped out of earshot range of the group and lowered his voice, "I also know you guys ran a check on Lyons. Can you send me the informa-"

"You ran a background check on me?" Lyons exclaimed. Deeks froze and thought, _Holy Crap! How the hell did he hear me?_

"Things aren't adding up," Sam calmly told him, "We just needed to make sure that you were legit."

"I see," Lyons turned to Deeks, "And you need the information right now because…."

"Do you have some kind of supersonic hearing?" Deeks exclaimed, "Because I'm pretty sure that there's no way that you could have heard that-"

"Detective, I know that you don't trust me, but all I have done since we began this case is observe! You on the other hand, have been riding me on everything I do!" Lyons angrily jammed his PDA in his pocket, "What the hell is your problem?"

"My problem is you!" Deeks stepped within inches of the man's face, "What the hell is Interpol doing on a case like this?"

"Assistant Director Granger's request! Agents, you need to get your little detective under control or I will!"

"Deeks, stop!" Kensi yelled. She pulled her partner back and added, "Get yourself together."

"There is something not right about this, Kens-"

"Come here." Kensi pulled Deeks to the other side of the hanger. Deeks winced at the grip on his arm, gasping, "Ouch, Fern. Not so tight, not so tight-"

"What's been going on with you? Is this because of the raid from yesterday?" She let go of his arm and crossed hers, demanding an answer. Deeks answered, "Something is not right with Lyons, Kensi-"

"Don't you think that we don't know that? We knew that something was up with him from the start, but we can control our emotions about it, unlike you!" She turned to walk away, but stopped when Deeks said, "Kens…..I'm sorry about yesterday. I made a mistake-"

"That could have killed me. Take five minutes to get yourself together and then come back." Kensi opened her mouth to add something, but quickly closed it, shaking her head. Without a word coming from the detective, she walked away, leaving him standing alone. He could see her apologize to Lyons before she returned to inspecting the vehicle. Deeks decided to take his partners advice and left the hanger.

Once outside, Deeks felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. He answered it, relieved that the caller was Nell.

"That was quick," Deeks said. There was a pause on the other end of the line before Nell asked, "Are you alone?"

"Uh….yes? Nell, what's going?" He then heard Hetty's voice say, "Mr. Deeks, it appears that our-mainly your- hunches were correct. Ms. Jones had put everything that we had on Lyons in a file in the NCIS database-"

Nell cut her off, "And when I tried to re- access it, the file was gone. Eric's trying to recover the file right now. On top of that, those three petty officers have close to zilch information. There's barely anything- I can get you…date of birth, education, and family names, but that's about it. For three simple petty officers, that's way way too little information."

"Ok, call and tell Callen all of this. I kind of blew up at Lyons…again and now I'm on some kind of five minute time out. "

"Well, if I were you," Hetty said, "I would take those five minutes to look around. See if anything is suspicious. The other team members are most likely going to be followed closely by Lyons. You don't have a lot of time left before you aren't a detective anymore- I'd like you to end your career being useful. By the way, your application was accepted and I'm trying to get the director to give you probationary status until you finish your training."

Deeks heard Nell faintly say, "Wait….what's that supposed to mean?"

"Tomorrow night- if everything with the Director goes alright," Deeks could hear Hetty tell Nell, "Our team will have four agents instead of three. Mr. Deeks will become an NCIS agent."

Deeks sighed in relief. He was in- he was officially part of NCIS- of course, if everything went well.

If everything went well.


	4. Chapter 4

Deeks pocketed his cell phone and looked back at the military base office. The area was quiet now; nightfall served as a catalyst for all the Naval personal to be at dinner or resting in their quarters. Deeks was thankful for that; it gave him the chance to spend his "five minute time out" snooping around. He started walking towards a large building adjacent to base office. The main door had been left open by two personal Deeks had seen sprinting towards their vehicles during his phone call. The detective picked up his pace and ran over to the building's main door.

Deeks peered inside and saw the main hallway to be empty. He cautiously stepped inside and started walking to the first doorway he saw. It was locked, prompting him to move on to the next door, which opened instantly. Inside, the room was scarcely lit and had a long table with three back bags on it. When Deeks came closer, he could see that each bag had blood splattered on it, no doubt the result of a gunshot. Deeks pulled out his crime scene gloves and slipped them on before examining the first bag. He turned it over and froze at what he saw.

"What the hell?" he gasped at the sight of Petty Officer Hunter Heath's name on the back bag. Deeks quickly pulled out his cell phone and took as many pictures as he could of each bag and the name on the other two, both belonging to the other two Petty officers. He then slowly opened the top of Heath's bag and found two sheets of crumpled paper, the second one a brown sheet, most likely due to a fire.

_Someone on this base didn't want these sheets to be found._ Deeks straightened each sheet and took pictures of each of them, noting that each sheet contained computer script. The detective sighed before continuing the process- digging through each bag, taking photos of each piece of evidence, and then replacing each item. When he finished, Deeks walked over to the doorway before double checking the room to make sure it looked untouched.

The detective stepped out into the hallway and closed the door quietly behind him. He only had a second to turn around before both of the navy personal from earlier returned to the building. One quickly put his hand on his gun and barked at Deeks, "How did you get in here?"

"Um, the door was open," Deeks replied in a calm, relaxed voice.

"Who are you?"

"Oh," Deeks pulled out his badge, "I'm LAPD Detective Deeks- I'm here with the NCIS team to investigate-"

The officer lowered his hand. "What the hell are you doing in here?"

"I went for a walk and got sidetracked. I'm good now- I'll be heading back over to my team, if you don't mind." Deeks took a step towards the men before one of them grabbed his arm. "We'll walk you back,  
>Detective. Don't want you to get lost again."<br>"Let go of my arm and I'm in," Deeks answered. The navy personal released Deeks' arm and commandeered, "Go." _No worries, I'm out of here, _the detective thought.

After a quick walk back over towards the team, Deeks found his back against the wall as he was cornered by three very annoyed NCIS agents. Sam was the angriest of the three; the first thing he said to Deeks after he was "dropped off" was, "Do we have to put a leash on you?"

"I just got sidetracked…and found something good," Deeks said. Kensi cut him off by saying, "Let me guess…..a hot chick?"

Callen chimed in. "A pretty airplane?"

Deeks dropped his shoulders and cocked his head, annoyed. "Seriously guys? Listen-"Lyons suddenly appeared behind the group with a smug look on his face. "I hope that you didn't go snooping around, Deeks, because anything found by you is no longer pertinent to the case."

Deeks stared in confusion at Lyons' _Challenge me, I dare you_, look. "What are you talking about?"

"Assistant Director Granger told me something interesting. He asked me on how you were handling this case, I told him, and also made a little suggestion," he smiled at the three confused agents, "You didn't know? Well, here's the scoop: Granger says that Detective Deeks resigned from LAPD and NCIS, effective tomorrow night. Well, because of my little suggestion-"

"What the hell did you say to Granger?" Deeks growled. Although he was angry, Deeks was also nervous; Callen looked angry, Sam looked beyond pissed, and Kensi seemed way past homicidal towards him.

"I spoke about your attitude and actions, especially how you've been functioning since certain raid. After he was surprised that your incompetence hasn't gotten anyone killed yet, I suggested that LAPD shouldn't drag out a certain detective's resignation while he's on a case. Granger than spoke to LAPD and now both of your resignations are effective immediately. You're a civilian, kid."

Deeks felt his entire body shake from anger. Lyons seemed to pick up on it and added, "I'd also say goodbye to being an agent as well if I were you. I think NCIS only accepts the best-"Deeks suddenly lunged at Lyons, restrained by Sam before he could reach the Interpol agent. "You bastard!"

Sam pushed Deeks away from Lyons and barked, "Go home, Deeks!"

Callen held out his hand and demanded, "I need your badge and your gun, now. You can't carry them anymore." Deeks angrily bit his lip before handing over the items to Callen. Kensi tossed him the keys to  
>the silver SUV. "I'll get a ride home with the guys," she said quietly.<p>

"Ok….I'm sorry that I didn't-"  
>"Go," Kensi told him flatly, "Just go, Deeks." He nodded in response and started walking back to the vehicle. Once inside, he quickly dialed Hetty's number as he drove out onto the highway.<p>

"Mr. Deeks, I'm glad you called-"she answered.

"Hetty, I found some kinky things on the base! Also, that bastard said that he talked to Granger about speeding up my resignation and now I don't have a job-"

"Mr. Deeks, slow down!" Hetty exclaimed, "Start from the beginning- what happened?"

Deeks took a breath and gripped the steering wheel tighter, "Ok, I went snooping around and found that not only are the people on this base not giving us all the information, but that they are withholding evidence. There are bags that each officer most likely was carrying with information when they had been shot. Don't worry, I took lots of pictures that Nell and Eric can analyze."

"I would never worry about your skills. In regards to your position in this agency, you are still one of us. I was going to wait until you returned with the team to tell you this, but now is probably the best time. You are officially a probationary agent."

Deeks pulled the vehicle over to the side of the road. If wasn't for the case and his soured relationship with his team members, he would be outside of the vehicle jumping for joy.

"Don't let Agent Lyons get to you. He's just taunting you for unknown reasons."

Deeks started driving down the highway again before asking, "Yeah, what should I-we do about Lyons and Granger? Does the Director know what's going on?"

"He claims not to, but I am going to look into it. In the meanwhile, I need you to get back here as fast as possible. I believe that these officers were killed because they discovered something that they shouldn't have- something that this team know knows. I'll send for the others after we're finished speaking. Stay safe."

"I will," Deeks answered. He paused before adding, "Thanks."

"For what?"

"Believing in me and allowing me to make the move to become an agent," he smiled at the thought of the NCIS badge, "Special Agent Marty Deeks…awesome."


	5. Chapter 5

Deeks stepped into the operations room after his three hour trip from China Lake. The quiet drive drove him nearly insane; not knowing if his team was ok or what was on the sheets of paper that he had found and an empty car was not the best mix. Once he had made it back to OPS, Deeks had found the building to have barely any people in it.

He found Nell in the room, focused deeply on her computer. She quickly looked up at Deeks' and exclaimed, "You made it!"

"What? Were you expecting me not to?" Deeks asked, slipping off his jacket and placing it onto the table. Nell stood up and said, "Well, that's not what I meant, Deeks. I mean-"

"I know what you meant, Nell," he responded with a yawn. Deeks slid down to the floor. "I have a feeling a lot of bad things are about to happen as well. " Nell sat down next to him, "Yeah…Congrats by the way on becoming an agent."

"Thanks."

"I'm sorry that the team is still angry with you."

"Me too."

"When was the last time you slept, Deeks?" Nell asked curiously. Deeks laid his head against the table leg. "Maybe three days? I don't know- don't worry about me, Nell. I'll sleep once this case is over…..and if the guys don't kill me."

"They won't, don't worry." A grin suddenly appeared on Deeks' face. It took Nell a moment to realize what was so funny. She chuckled and corrected herself, "I'm sorry- Callen won't kill you. Sam and Kensi are a near definite."

"Well, most-"Suddenly the doors opened, revealing a brunette, Hetty, and Granger. The assistant director strutted in and chuckled at the two sitting on the ground. "Sleepover time's over, you two. Jones, I want you to update the _new_ liaison on her duties."

Deeks cocked his head in confusion. "You terminated my liaison position only three hours ago and you already had it filled?"

"Let's just say I got overexcited," Granger grunted. Hetty motioned over to the brunette. "Ms. Jones, Mr. Deeks. Meet Detective Ava Donnelly. She'll be our new liaison." To both Nell and Deeks, there was something odd about Donnelley's behavior. She seemed very interested- too interested in her environment. Her eyes suspiciously darted around during her introduction.

"Director Granger, I'd be happy to show Detective Donnelley around while Ms. Jones and Mr. Deeks work on logistical information for this case," Hetty volunteered. Granger sent Deeks a scowl and grunted, "Fine. I expect the same special treatment you gave the surfer to Ms. Donnelley."

Hetty smiled. "We'll see." She motioned Donnelley out the door before turning to Nell and Deeks. "Well, get to it!"

Nell let out a, "Huh?" before Deeks moved into action. He handed her his phone and said, " I need you to pull up some pictures of some kinky stuff I found."

"It isn't porn, is it?" Nell asked. She connected his phone to her laptop. Deeks rolled his eyes before muttering, "No…..but that would have really been interesting." He scooted close to Nell before he suddenly heard Sam's angry voice,

"I swear I'll break Deeks' neck if I see him."

Deeks froze and whipped his head behind him. "There's not a back entrance or hidey hole I can run to, is there?" he asked Nell. She shrugged her shoulders as Sam, Callen, and Kensi entered the room. Deeks had a second before Sam took off towards him. Thankfully, Nell put her hands up in front of Deeks and exclaimed, "Don't kill him!"

"I'm not going to kill him, Nell," Sam answered in a calm tone, "I'm just going to break his little neck. He'll still be able to live after that."

"I'll be half dead by then!" Deeks exclaimed, "Look, I'm sorry about the raid! I made a honest mistake and it won't happen again! I'm also sorry I didn't tell you that I left LAPD and joined NCIS-"

"You joined NCIS?" Kensi asked from behind Callen. Deeks looked for some form of support or joy from his partner, but only received a cold, hard stare. "Yeah, I'm…I'm a probationary agent, but we can deal with the later! The important thing is what I found in the building next to the base's main office! Nell!"

Nell clicked on the first photo in the phone, a picture of the bloody bags on the table. Deeks pulled himself onto his feet and said, "These belong to the petty officers- each had the same particular blood spatter – basically what you would get if you shot a man close range. Based on how it looked, I'm guessing these men were executed. "Deeks paused expecting to be yelled at, but only saw each agent change their focus onto the flat screen where the photo was displayed.

Nell clicked onto the next photo, the pictures of the burnt sheets of paper. She said, "It looks like these are codes for a program. It shouldn't be too hard to decipher- Eric and I should be able to do it in a matter of hours. I can see that the title says classified- December 2003. "

"Classified? That's odd-"

"That's not the weirdest part- it's in French. Uhhhh," Nell squinted at her screen, "Yeah, this looks something international. Maybe something military between France and United States?"

"If that's the reason, than we need to get in touch with Interpol," Deeks said. He turned to Kensi, "Where's Lyons?"

"He said he had to speak with Granger about something," Kensi answered, "Nell, can you track him?"

"On it." The intelligence analyst disconnected Deeks' phone and started typing, her fingers flying in a blur. Callen glanced around the room before his curiosity got the best of him. "Where's Eric?" he asked. Nell rolled her eyes. "He's been following the new liaison around like a lost, drooling puppy."

"New Liaison?" Sam asked. He shot Deeks a glare and muttered, "In with the new, out with the old, I guess."

Deeks scowled before Nell pulled up a satellite photo of Lyons' vehicle. Nell squinted and said, "I tracked his cell phone and got this, but I don't think there's anyone in his car."

"We can go and check out-"Deeks was cut off by Granger, who once again, appeared by the door. Nell quickly shut down the screen before Granger could see anything. He said, "No, you can't. This case is being handed off to another team."

"Why? We just started!" Callen exclaimed. Granger rolled his eyes and walked past the irate agent. "This decision was made by me and the Director about five minutes ago. This team will stand down on this case- that includes you and Eric, Nell."

"What about those petty officers?" Kensi asked. Granger simply responded, "That will be taken care of." He caught Deeks' deep glare and asked, "What? Is that too hard of a request for Hetty's favorite?"

"I'm not Hetty's favorite-"

"That's crap, Deeks and you know it," Granger turned to the group, "If any of you access any aspect of this case or refuse to hand over any information, especially anything that can be seen as a threat to national security, your actions will be treated as a major felony against the United States and you will all be arrested. Any of you to use, sell, or hide information to anyone outside this agency or the US government-"

"We know- it's treason. Are you accusing us of something?" Callen snapped.

"No, but I have reasons to be suspicious due to a few unnamed sources. I will ask you all once- are there any additional information that I should know of?"

Nell and the four agents exchanged looks before all lying. "No."


	6. Chapter 6

Once Granger had left, Nell asked quietly, "Now what?"

"We continue on this case, Nell," Callen answered. He turned to the rest of the team and told them, "We need to find Lyons. It's too suspicious for a man to disappear like that. Nell, I want you to go somewhere outside of NCIS' database and decipher the pictures that Deeks had taken at the base. Take Eric with you. Sam and I will go and see if we can dig up some information on Lyons through some Interpol contacts. Deeks, Kensi- you two find Lyons. Now Deeks, when you find him, please-"

"Ok, I'm sick of this!" Deeks exclaimed. He turned to face Kensi, Sam, and Callen. "I am sorry about what had happened with the raid! It was a stupid mistake- a human error- and I'm sorry! I know I'm behind and I promise you that I'll work day and night to make it where you all don't have to worry about me screwing something up. Right now, we need to move on and focus on this case! Ok?"

Sam crossed his arms and stared at Deeks for a few seconds before saying, "Alright."

"Are we cool?"

"Yeah, we're cool." Sam walked over to the door, "I'm still going to talk with the Director and see how the hell they let you into NCIS," he joked.

"Love you too, Sam," Deeks laughed. He turned to Callen, who smiled back. "We're cool, Deeks. The raid and the case for it was….stressful and we unfortunately had been taking our frustrations out on you. I'm sorry for that."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome and congrats on fully joining the squad." Callen gave Deeks a pat on the shoulder before walking out with Sam. Kensi nodded in contempt before following the guys out of the room. Nell suddenly jumped up and said, "Oh, Deeks! This is for you!"

She handed him an NCIS badge. "Hetty wanted to do something special before giving you this, but now that Lyons' is a suspect and Granger's being…Granger, you need to have it now."

"Thanks, Nell." He admired the badge for a moment before turning to leave with his partner.

Twenty minutes later, Kensi and Deeks were on their way to the location of Lyons' car. Kensi was driving while Deeks was staring at the window.

"So are we ok?" Deeks suddenly asked. Kensi smiled and said, "Yeah- We're good. Callen was right- we were all acting stupid. I just got frustrated…."

"Ok," Deeks glanced at his partner before adding, "- actually, that's great that we're good- I'm tired of being in the dog house-"

"Oh no, you aren't totally out of the woods yet, my friend. When were you going to tell me about you leaving LAPD?"

"When I was sure that you, Sam, and Callen weren't going to shoot me point blank and then go out for drinks afterwards."

"That's still on the table." She paused before turning the SUV onto a side road. Kensi put the vehicle in park and looked up to Deeks. "Did you leave LAPD because of me?"

"No, Kens. The raid was definitely influential, but…." Deeks glanced towards the NCIS badge sitting in his lap. "You know Hetty had asked me to join NCIS last year and I told her that it wasn't the right time. I think the raid made me realize that I need to catch up with you guys- you know, not be the lagging team member anymore."

"You were never that."

"I am, Kens. I loved being a cop…but I love being with you guys more. I'll miss LAPD, but what's done is done. I am happy to be _Special Agent _though- makes me feel kind of bad ass." Kensi nodded in agreement, content with her partner's answer. Although his humor was slowly returning, Deeks still looked exhausted, physically and emotionally. _After this case, I'm going to make him go on some kind of a vacation_, she thought. Kensi pulled the car off the street and continued down the main road towards the car's location.

After seven minutes, Deeks heard the GPS beep and he looked towards the upcoming parking lot. "There's Lyons' car."

Kensi pulled the SUV into a parking spot on the other side of the street. "That's weird that he'd park his car with his phone in the middle of an almost empty parking lot like that. That's kinky…really kinky."

"That's the theme of the day." Deeks stepped out of the vehicle and carefully crossed the street with his partner on his heels. He then walked over to the car- A blue Prius. The vehicle was empty with the keys still in the ignition. They had expected the cell phone to be sitting on a seat, but it was nowhere to be found.

"Why the hell would Lyons leave the keys in the ignition? And where's the phone?" Kensi asked.

"And why drive a Prius? Aren't agents supposed to drive bad ass cars like Sam's Challenger?" Deeks muttered, half mindedly. Kensi rolled her eyes and said, "I'll call Nell to make sure nothing changed on our trip down here." She stepped away, leaving the probationary agent alone to inspect the vehicle. He kneeled and ran his hand over the front wheel and back wheel, feeling for any explosive devices. After feeling nothing, Deeks then laid on his stomach and looked under the car. What he saw made his stomach drop.

Deeks jumped up and ran to Kensi's side. "We have to go! Bomb!"

"What?" She didn't have a chance to say anything else before Deeks yanked her back from the car. He pulled her to the other side of the lot and exclaimed, "Lyons' cell phone is under the car as a trigger for a-"

The Prius suddenly exploded into a massive fireball. The blast made Kensi and Deeks duck behind a vehicle as shrapnel was shot across different parts of the parking lot.

Panting, Kensi dropped her head in hands to wrap around her mind around what happened. Deeks was staring at the burning Prius. "We are so screwed," he whispered.

"We're beyond screwed. I think Lyons set that up for us! He and someone at China Lake knows about what you had found, Deeks, and on top of that, there is a good chance someone saw us inspecting Lyons' car which blows up like a minute later-"

Deeks finished for her, "LAPD is going to connect us to the crime, question us, get Granger and Vance involved, we get fired for disobeying orders, and whoever set up that bomb will eventually find a way to kill us. Ahh….I picked a greaaat time to join NCIS…"

"Well. At least we know Lyons is behind this."

"Who else could it be?"

"Ok. " Kensi frowned at the faint sounds of fire trucks. "We need to go- we can't be seen here anymore than we already have."

"Alright, I'm going to tell Callen and Sam." Deeks pulled out his phone and dialed Callen's number while walking behind Kensi. The lead agent answered within one ring. "Callen."

"Hey, a bomb went off-"

"Yeah, we just heard. You guys need to-"

"Get out of there? Yeah, we are currently in the process of running away. Anything from Nell?" Deeks now picked up his pace with Kensi as they ran onto a side street away from the parking lot. The fire trucks were now arriving at the scene, along with a large group of onlookers.

"Yes, but it's not something that could be spoken about over the phone. Remember the case with the challenge between Sam and you over the gem?"

Deeks smiled at the mention of that "case". It was a case created by Hetty to promote team unity, especially between Deeks and Sam. A race filled with challenges had left Sam and Deeks fighting for a small green gem that Hetty had chosen for the prize. Sam wanted to win it to give it to one of his daughters, but Deeks wanted to win it for Kensi. The "case" ended in San Diego where by the straw of luck, Deeks had won.

"Yeah, we'll meet you there." He hung up and told Kensi, "We're heading to San Diego."


	7. Chapter 7

**San Diego, California**

"Where are they?" Kensi muttered while pacing in front of Deeks. Both agents stood in a one room apartment on the outskirts of the city. A contact of Hetty's had allowed them to use the apartment as a meeting place, no questions asked. Kensi and Deeks hadn't expected to beat Callen, Sam, Nell, and Eric to San Diego, especially when they wait until the area was clear of police to get back to their car.

"Relax, Kens. Don't panic yet," Deeks told her softly while leaning against a dining table's edge. He was too relaxed for Kensi's liking.

"This is unusual, Deeks. Something isn't right-"

Deeks shrugged, his gaze locked on a window. "I know. I'm just trying to be the optimistic one."

"It doesn't suit you."

"Well, panic doesn't suit you." They both chuckled before Deeks focused back on the window. His eyes were starting to droop from him being up for nearly seventy two hours.

"Rest, Deeks. You look exhausted-"

"I am exhausted. I haven't been sleeping very well." The probationary agent yawned, ignoring the fact that he was slowly sliding sideways, about to fall onto the floor.

"Well then, rest," Kensi answered. She sat in a chair near the bed before her cell phone rang. She turned on the speaker and answered , " Hello?"

"It's Callen," the voice on the other end said. Deeks and Kensi exchanged nervous looks before Deeks asked, "Hey, where are you guys? Kensi's getting worried." He grunted when he received an elbow jab from his partner.

"We're actually still in Los Angeles," Callen's voice seemed oddly relaxed amongst the noise in the background. To Deeks, it sounded like police sirens. "Did you guys make it safe?" the lead agent asked.

"Yeah, we've been here for about thirty minutes," Kensi said, "Callen, what's going on?"

Callen paused before answering, "Somehow Granger and LAPD magically put two-and-two together and figured out that you two were in that parking lot when the bomb went off. I don't know how they got to that conclusion that fast- it's only been about two and a half hours."

Through careful listening, Deeks could also hear people talking in the background, one of the voices sounding similar to Sam's. "Sounds like you have some company, Callen," he said.

Callen let out a loud annoyed sigh. "Sam and some _friendly_ LAPD officers are having a chat right now. We barely made it out of the city before we were pulled over. This is the first time I've been able to freely chat all day. We aren't going to make it because people are starting to really get suspicious of this team. Deeks, I think you found something that's more than just a domestic issue."

Deeks winced at the comment before asking, "How big are we talking? Give us the quick version."

"Well, it appears that someone with French ties has infiltrated NCIS. From what the little Nell and Eric were able to decipher, we found that someone has been sending encrypted messages regarding US' current military research, mainly for the Navy."

Kensi asked. "Has this been going on for a while?"

" Yes- that's all we know."

"Ok- so the documents were in French," Deeks said to Kensi, "The possibilities of who could have done this are endless."

"Yeah and it would take anywhere from a few months to years to investigate all those possibilities. Callen, going back to the bombing-"

"LAPD is looking to speak with you as persons of interest. I'm worried that if LAPD and Granger have you guys in their sights, it'll be hard as hell to get out."

_That's not good. _Deeks stood up and walked over to the window he had been staring at earlier. Before him, San Diego looked so peaceful, the complete opposite of what was going on in his life. "What do you need us to do, Callen?"

"Stay put. LAPD was told that you two are on a mission and can't return until the end of the week. Within the agency, Hetty's going to fend off Granger the best she can. In the meanwhile, Nell and Eric are going to decode as fast as they can while Sam and I hunt down Lyons. Stay out of sight- We'll give you the heads up when it's clear."

"Understood. Stay safe." Deeks hung up and turned to Kensi. "What now?" he asked. Kensi rubbed her neck with both hands while closing the shades for all the windows. She shrugged and answered, "I'll call Hetty's contact and see if he can get us some food and water. In the meantime, we can go over the case and information that can help with your NCIS training."

"Well before we do that, can we do naptime 101?" Deeks sat on the bed and closed his eyes. Kensi smiled at him before turning around to complete the call.

**2 Days Later**

They hadn't heard a word.

In the two days since their phone call with Callen, Deeks and Kensi hadn't received any word from their team mates. It left both wondering what was going on at OSP- was everything going as normal or was half the team in prison? While waiting, Kensi and Deeks had spent the time reviewing over the case and running through NCIS "training" for Deeks' benefit.

Now both agents were sitting on the bed; an irritable Kensi sat with her arms around her legs and Deeks was lying on his back at the edge of the bed.

"I think I'm going to lose my mind. I can't stay in this house anymore! " Kensi exclaimed, burring her head underneath her jacket. Deeks snorted, "Now you're going crazy? "

"Don't push it, Deeks!"

He groaned and brushed his hair from his eyes. "How about you shoot and put me out of misery of boredom?"

"Don't tempt me!"

"Come lay down by me, then," Deeks called out. Kensi hesitated before lying on her side next to Deeks. "Alright, I'm down. Now what?"

"Close your eyes."

"Deeks, what is this?"

"Trust me," Deeks looked Kensi in the eye, " This is the only way that I've been able to get through the week. Just do as I say, ok?"

"Alright." The brunette laid on her back and closed her eyes. "What next, Dr. Phil?"

"Ha. Just imagine us on a beach-"

"-Us?"

"Um, separate beaches, but if you wanted to be together- you know what? Just follow along- ok, we're on a beach for like a vacation, you know. I'm shirtless and you're in a smoking bikini-" He paused, expecting Kensi to protest at his comment, but heard nothing. She was smiling and following along, enjoying the moment of peace.

"Ok, now-" Suddenly, they both heard the front door open and close. Both turned over and whipped out their weapons, aiming at the doorway. A second of silence passed before they saw Eric slowly step into the doorway and say, "Hey, it's just me."

Deeks sighed and placed his weapon on the bed. "Nearly gave me a heart attack. By the way, it's about time you showed. Kensi was starting to go a little mad."

"Ignore him," Kensi responded, "Where's Callen and Sam?"

"Still in LA. Things are getting seriously tense back home, guys. On top of that," Eric handed Kensi and Deeks files, "we found Lyons."


	8. Chapter 8

"It's about time," Deeks huffed. He dropped his weapon onto the table and beckoned Eric in, "Tell me it's good news."

"Yes and no," Eric sat down and pulled a laptop out of his bag, "We know that Lyons was in Los Angeles when his car blew up. However, I found him on the way to China Lake this morning…but then I lost him."

"Why is he heading back?" Kensi asked Deeks. The probationary shrugged and muttered, "Cleaning up loose ends?"

"Wait," Kensi turned back to Eric, "You didn't drive all the way down here to tell us that did you?" She frowned when Eric tensed up and gave his friends a puppy dog look. "I'm really sorry guys," he stated, "but both Vance and Granger want you back in LA ASAP. Both somehow figured out that the made up mission was a lie- they're pissed."

"Ok, we'll leave in a few but…how far did you get on those messages?" Kensi asked. Eric clicked on the link and pulled up four photographs. "The spy was taking and sending pictures of the Navy's work on a new type of submarine. I couldn't get a name yet, but it has pretty much all the abilities a country would want in a sub- anti-submarine warfare capabilities, very high tech resonance and sonar technologies- basically, everything there is to offer," Eric pulled up more photos, "It isn't supposed to go out until 2013."

Deeks sat down on the chair near Eric and stretched out his legs. "Well that kind of explains Granger's odder behavior."

"Odder?" Kensi asked with a smirk.

"You know- he's being more of an ass than usual! Ok, so do we think Granger and Lyons are trying to cover this up?"

"Exactly," Eric said. He clicked open a file then suddenly froze. Deeks exchanged a confused look with Kensi before calling out, "Eric, what's up?"

"Where-what….guys, we had found a suspicious amount of money leaving Lyons' account, but-but it's gone!"

"Ok, don't panic. Maybe it didn't transfer?"

Eric began frantically clicking keys on his laptop. "It has to be here! In the short amount of time- you know with sneaking behind Granger's back- anyway, I couldn't really back it up- how does $12 million dollars disappear like that?"

"12 million?" both agents exclaimed. Kensi added, "And the Director won't take that as suspicious?"

"Well, we can't take it to him because we technically aren't even supposed to be near any of this information, which…no longer exists." Eric dropped his head onto the table and groaned. Deeks gave him an empathetic pat on the shoulder before sitting on the bed. His head was spinning as he tried to take in all the information. If the three petty officers were killed for snooping, he would be next…

"Deeks?" The probationary agent looked up to see Kensi and Eric staring back at him in concern. He straightened up and asked, "Why do I feel like this isn't going to end well?"

"Because if we get caught snooping," Kensi answered as she sat down on the bed next to him, "We'll be labeled as traitors and put in federal prison."

Deeks laid back onto the bed and groaned, thinking _Yep, you definitely picked a great time to join NCIS. _

**Three hours later- NCIS Office of Special Projects**

_So far, so good,_ Deeks thought as he stepped into the op center behind Kensi. Eric was standing behind him, nervously looking around as if he was expecting something to explode. In front, Kensi placed her bag next to Sam's desk before the three heard, "Blye! Deeks! Beale! Operations room-now!" from the top of the stairs. It was an angry Granger, looking as if he was ready to kill all three of them.

"Coming," Kensi replied before heading up the stairs with Deeks and Eric behind her. In the operations room, they found the new liaison Ava Donnelley, Sam, Callen, Granger, and Nell. Deeks hesitated to enter the room when there was no sight of Hetty.

"You two want to tell me why you were in San Diego?" Granger snapped. Deeks answered casually, "A mission-"

"Caught the crap, detective-"

"Agent-"

"Whatever. I want the truth."

Kensi stepped in. "We were aggravated about losing this case so Deeks and I went away for a break."

Granger stepped between Deeks and Kensi. "Inter- team relations-"

"No," both answered quickly. Deeks looked away and thought, _As much as I would like that to happen- wait, what am I thinking?_

Granger's sneer laugh brought Deeks back to reality. The assistant Director stated, "I know you two are still involved somehow in this case. If you weren't, LAPD wouldn't have had such a damn problem finding you two."

_That's he figured this out: Someone ratted us out. _Deeks said, "If you are insinuating-"

"Don't say a word, Deeks. Not one more word." Deeks backed down at Kensi's warning nudge. Granger stepped towards the front screen and said, "I spoke with the Director about this team's inability to follow directions and tell the truth," Granger told them slyly. He ignored the homicidal glare from all four agents. "He called Hetty and she told him that it was all her idea to keep digging into this case and lie about both of Agent Blye and the probie agent's ware bout's."

Deeks scowled in response. Granger leaned against the table, "She took an indefinite suspension. Until matters are…sorted, I will be running the show and you all will play by my rules or you're done. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir," Kensi, Sam, and Callen answered harshly. Deeks only sent Granger a challenging glare. The Assistant Director snapped at him, "Is there a problem, _detective_?"

"I'm not a detective…and there's no problem, sir."

"Good," Granger answered. He looked between the two older agents and said, "We have a case involving a possible drug trafficking between the Arizona- California border."

"Possible?" Callen asked. Sam whispered under his breath, "Leave it alone, G." Callen took the message to really be _We can kick his ass later._

"Yes. Agent Callen, Agent Hanna- take our new, highly qualified liaison to the crime scene. As for you two," he pointed to Deeks and Kensi, "I want you both at LAPD immediately."

"Ok." The older agents and Kensi started towards the door while Deeks paused, his suspicions against Donnelley rising. Deeks began to follow her before he was pulled over Granger. "Listen here, Deeks," Granger snarled in the agent's ear in a low voice, "I know about what you saw at that base and it was nothing, you hear me?" Granger yanked on Deeks' arm to get across his point, "Let this go and you won't end up like those three petty officers. And don't forget that Miss Blye and the rest of your team isn't off limits either. Understand?"

"Understood," Deeks answered. Granger released his arm just as Kensi walked back into the room. Granger pointed between Deeks and her. "LAPD- now….and I will be checking in."

The assistant director pushed past them. Deeks let out a sigh and placed his hands on his face. Kensi touched his shoulder and asked, "What did he say to you?"

"Remember how I kept saying that things were getting kinky?"

"Yeah…."

"I believe we just went into dangerous territory. After we go to LAPD, we need to find Hetty and figure this out."


	9. Chapter 9

**Los Angeles Police Department**

"How do you want to play this?" Deeks asked Kensi as they walked up the stairs to the police station. Kensi noticed the intense glares from every passing officer. "I don't know- the we're innocent card?" she replied.

"I was kind of hoping that was already known," Deeks answered. He opened the door and allowed her to step inside. Both agents walked up to the counter where a female secretary sat at the front desk.

"Excuse me," Kensi called. The secretary looked up and pushed her glasses up her nose. She didn't recognize Kensi, but recognized Deeks. "Oh, Detective Deeks. What can I do you for?"

"It's agent, actually…..and we need to speak to the Chief of Police about the car bombing from a few days ago."

The secretary's expression instantly darkened. "I'll call him right away." As the woman turned away, Kensi placed a hand on her cheek. " We are so screwed."

"It can't…be..that bad." Deeks leaned against the counter and eyed the door behind the desk, "at worst we'll be yelled at."

"At worst? Deeks, we could be arrested!"

"They don't have any proof to- wait, we could be held for 24 hours." Deeks straightened up, "If this is as bad as we think this is."

"You're too much of an optimist-"

"Deeks!" they suddenly heard from down the hallway. Even with the door to the police hallway being closed, both agents could both hear the irate Police Chief loud and clear. Deeks took a step behind Kensi and said, " You're right, we're completely screwed."

"You Agent Blye?" the Police Chief snapped after nearly pushing the door off its hinges. Kensi slowly nodded, "Yes, I am."

"You two better have a damn good reason for disappearing off the face of the map for two days!"

"We were on a mission-"

"That's a damn lie and you know it!" The Police Chief was now in Kensi's face. Deeks slid in between them and replied, "Back down -"

"Shut up!" The Police Chief pointed towards one of the interrogation rooms. "You'll tell me everything….and I mean everything."

"Ok," Kensi answered. She tugged on Deeks' arm and pulled him into the interrogation. Neither got the chance to say a word before the Police Chief pointed to the chairs across from them and barked, "Sit down."

Both agents complied and sat down quickly. The Police Chief clasped his hands together and stated, "San Diego. Explain."

"Well, what had happened was that we took some time to….deal with the recent changes and the case," Deeks stammered, " that has been going on for the last week or so."

"So you drove two hours and went off the grid? Come on, give me something better than that." The Police Chief spotted Deeks' nervousness in his eyes. "Aren't you supposed to be in D.C training to become NCIS's new puppy?"

_Why is everyone coming after me as of late? _" I'm finish my training to become a full _agent _here in Los Angeles. Training….was one of the things that we did while on our mission."

"I see. You two want to tell me why you were at Lyons' car before it exploded?" the Police Chief asked.

"We were looking for him- "

"Why?"

Kensi and Deeks exchanged looks before Kensi spoke up, " Do you think that we were trying to blow Lyons up? Why would we be standing right there when it happened?"

The Police Chief gave her smug look. " I don't know. Maybe NCIS is lowering their standards with their agents these days. I mean, they hired the shaggy detective over here." Deeks shot the Police Chief a glare and added, "You shouldn't be looking at us for the bombings. Try anyone like his enemies."

"I am. Lyons told me that you have beef with him."

_I knew that would come back and bite me in the ass. _"Yeah, we butted heads, but I've only known him for a week, tops."

Kensi cut in. "Are you charging us with anything? Because if not, we'd like to go."

"We'll see about the charges," the Police Chief stood up and stepped towards the door, "Why don't you two sit tight?" He walked out before either agent could respond. Deeks slid forward in his chair and muttered, "They aren't going to let us go, are they?

Kensi crossed her arms and answered. "Nope."

Across town, Callen stepped onto the front steps of Hetty's home. After a few hours at the new crime scene with Sam and Donnelley, he had spent the remainder of his afternoon working on paperwork to please Granger. It was midnight now and the agent finally had time to get some answers from Hetty.

Callen knocked twice before Hetty answered. Dressed in a robe, she looked up at Callen, peering through her glasses. "Mr. Callen, it's a little late to be making house calls, don't you think?"

"Granger was watching Sam and I like a hawk all day. I didn't get a chance to step away." Hetty nodded and beckoned him into the house. Oddly enough, the living room was well lit; files were scattered on the living room table, surrounding a large cup of tea.

"Did you think I'd idly stand by while this case goes to hell?" Hetty asked. Callen chuckled, feeling like she had read his mind. Hetty sat down on the couch and asked, "You said that Granger was watching you and Sam. What about Mr. Deeks and Ms. Blye?"

"LAPD is still holding them without charges. The Chief claims that the LAPD is looking into something that they can't a.k.a won't tell me. Hetty, what the hell is going on here? Is this just a spy in the agency or is this bigger than that?"

"Bigger. While you were out with the new liaison, I had found what happened to the money that had left Lyons' account." Callen sat down on the lounge chair next to her and asked, "And?"

"The $12 million was withdrawn from the account from a bank in Los Angeles by a woman seen in this photo." Hetty pointed to the photo of a skinny brunette walking out of a bank with a large purse over her shoulder. She was wearing a white sundress and large expensive sunglasses. Callen took the photo in hand and said, " She looks high class. Did the banks raise any alarms? You can't just take out $12million and walk out."

"She had been approved by the bank ahead of time, which is precisely how I found her. This is woman is here in the city and I have an address. In regards to how the money got there in the first place, I can't answer that. What I do know is that the money jumped around many, many times before this woman took it." Hetty took a minute to sip her tea while Callen processed the information.

"So we can assume that this woman knows Lyons close enough to be able to pull out that much money on his behalf. Any ties to Granger-"

"That won't be easy, Mr. Callen. Granger is a good agent. He'll be hard to catch."

"I see." Callen ran a hand over his face and groaned. He was exhausted and frustrated now; the deeper that they went into this case, the more confusing and twisted it got. " Alright, let's run this from the top. Three petty officers find encrypted messages with codes for a program about a project for the Navy's newest submarine. This information dates all the way back to December of 2003 and had been written in French. From that alone, we know that there is a spy in NCIS sending off military secrets."

"Right."

Callen stood and started pacing slowly between the couch and the fireplace. " The Navy would want something like that investigated, but China Lake waited two days before calling us. And when they did finally call us, we get pulled off once Granger or Lyons or whoever else is in involved found out that Deeks had found the back bags. Now we have a suspicious new liaison, Lyons off the grid, Deeks and Kensi in LAPD custody and you on suspension. Where does that leave us?"

"With a bloody mess. Here's what we'll do: we need solid proof that Granger and Lyons are covering up for a spy within our Navy. So, I want you and Sam to find this woman…..Alexandria Kalhi and bring her to me. In the meantime, I'll get Mr. Deeks and Ms. Blye out of the LAPD. "


	10. Chapter 10

**Los Angeles Police Department- the next morning**

Deeks let out a groan, ignoring his partner's constant tapping on the interrogation room table. Both hadn't slept at all since the Police Chief had left them in the room the previous morning. They were approaching the twenty four hour mark and both had a feeling that they wouldn't be released anytime soon.

"Maybe that this is a good thing," Kensi stated. She laid her head on the table as Deeks let out another groan. He turned his head and asked, "What are you talking about?"

"I don't know- I was just thinking…." Kensi leaned in closer to Deeks and lowered her voice, "You're next on the list of people who know about the encrypted code. If you're here, you're safe." Kensi's shaky voiced caused Deeks to place a hand on her neck as gently as he could. "Don't worry about me, Fern," he stated.

"You're' my partner. It's my job." Both agents exchanged looks right as the interrogation room door opened. The Police Chief had actually pushed the door open, which made Kensi and Deeks jump up. Hetty stepped into the room with a smile on her face.

The Police Chief grumbled, "Here they are." Hetty waved him away and said, "Thank you."

"How did you get us out?" Kensi asked.

"You don't want to know, my dear. How are you two?" Hetty asked. Deeks stretched out his arms and said, "I'm pissed, I'm starving, and I really want to sleep."

Kensi smirked at Deeks' comment. She turned to Hetty and asked, "What do you want us to do?"

"Walk with me." Hetty walked out of the room with Kensi and Deeks soon behind her. Once outside, Hetty stated as they walked, "Mr. Callen and Mr. Hanna are looking for a woman involved with Lyons and the twelve million that went in and out of his account."

"Did they get anything so far?" Deeks asked.

"They're interviewing her as we speak. In the meantime, you two need to sleep. No questions asked- alright?" Hetty suddenly stopped in her tracks and Deeks nearly crashed into her.

"I guess. See you in the morning?" Kensi said to Deeks. He gave her a weak wave as she walked away. As Kensi was followed by Hetty, Deeks stood on the police station stairs while observing the area. He wasn't sure if it was the exhaustion, but the probationary agent felt an unusual focus. At the other end of the parking lot, Deeks spotted a silver car parked with the engine running.

_That's odd….. _The silver car suddenly pulled out of the parking lot and sped off down the street. Deeks watched it disappear amongst the traffic and contemplated calling Hetty or Kensi back. The agent felt his body rock forward, signaling that he needed to head home. _It's probably nothing….get some rest. _

**4:37am**

_**Creek.**_

Deeks slowly opened his eyes at the sound of footsteps. It sounded as if it were in the living room, slowly moving around as if whoever was there was looking for something.

Most likely him.

Deeks' dog Monty started to furiously bark from the kitchen. If it were any of Deeks' teammates, Monty wouldn't be barking. A minute passed before the footsteps moved to the kitchen. Deeks heard Monty whimper before silence spread throughout the apartment.

Deeks quietly pulled his cellphone under his cover and clicked the agent distress number. The footsteps approached his room before Deeks suddenly heard the door slowly open. He quickly pulled his gun from the bedside table under the sheets.

The agent closed his eyes and thought, _Patience. Make a move after counting down to five. Five. _The footsteps approached the side of the bed. The click of a safety on a gun being turned off sounded near the side of the bed.

_Four_. Deeks tightened his grip on his gun. His phone vibrated near his hand, indicating that Hetty, Callen, Kensi, Sam, Eric, or Nell were trying to call him.

_Three. _The pillow on the opposite side of the bed was moved.

_Two. _Silence.

_One. _With perfect timing, Deeks lunged sideways and fell onto the ground. He peeked his head up quickly to see a dark figure toss across the pillow while holding onto a pistol in his other hand. Deeks fired twice and missed the figure, who had dropped down at the other side of the bed. The agent took off towards the door where the figure slammed him hard enough to make the agent drop his gun.

Both men fell onto the ground in the living room. Deeks punched the man in the jaw and pushed him off. The agent turned on his stomach and crawled over to his gun. He turned and fired before feeling a sharp pain hit his thigh. His attacker fell onto him, allowing Deeks to see that bullet had gone through the man's abdomen.

_What the hell is on my thigh? _Deeks pushed the man off and saw that a pocketknife was sticking out of his thigh. It wasn't in too deep, but was still deep enough to cause a steady flow of blood onto his jeans leg.

"Monty?" Deeks called out as he turned onto his side. With a hand on his thigh, Deeks pulled himself onto his uninjured leg. He called out for Monty again and received no response. "Come on, buddy. Where are you?" Deeks limped into the kitchen where he saw Monty cowering between two kitchen counters. A muzzle was on the dog's bloody face. Deeks pulled off the muzzle and pulled Monty close to him. "It's alright, Monty. We're ok."

The cellphone in his room vibrated again, causing Deeks to look up. He pulled himself back onto his feet and limped towards the door. The agent didn't even make it to the door before his front door suddenly flew open. Deeks whipped around and aimed his gun, only to see Kensi.

"Deeks!" she called out. Kensi holstered her weapon and ran to her partner's side. "What the hell happened?"

He pointed to the body on the living room floor. "Bastard tried to kill me. They're coming after me like they did those petty officers." Kensi placed a supporting hand on Deeks' back. "I know. Let's get you out of here."


	11. Chapter 11

Sam slammed the breaks on the Challenger when he and Callen arrived at Deeks' apartment. They parked right behind Kensi's silver SUV. Kensi was out front, running towards her SUV with Monty in her arms and a backpack on one shoulder.

"Kensi!" Callen exclaimed when he jumped out of the car, "Where's Deeks?"

"He's in the SUV," Kensi answered. She opened the back seat door and placed Monty on the backseat. "He was stabbed in the thigh by an assailant. Now there's a dead body in his apartment and because of the gunshots, LAPD will be here any moment."

Callen nodded, quickly glancing between the SUV and Deeks' apartment. Sam was by the walkway where he could see a trail of blood towards the street, the blood assumingly belonging to Deeks.

"LAPD is going to be all over Deeks after this," Sam muttered, "G , we need to make a move."

The team leader took a moment to mull over the options. While thinking, Callen could see Deeks looking more and more uncomfortable in the passenger seat.

"We go to a safe house," Callen decided. He picked up Sam and Kensi's confused looks. "Not the boat shed. We're going to an emergency- call it a backup- safe house . Kensi, I'll text you the coordinates. Let's go."

Kensi nodded and returned to her vehicle, Callen and Sam doing the same to the Challenger. Inside the SUV, Kensi looked over to her injured partner. Deeks was pale and breathing more heavily, but still had a focused look on his face. He winced and asked, "What's the game plan?"

Kensi could hear police sirens off in the distance. She immediately started the vehicle and drove onto the main road towards the highway.

"Callen's got a safe house that we're going to go to," she answered. Deeks slowly nodded, a slight smile appearing on his face. "Callen's got his own super-secret safe house?"

"Yep. We should be safe there for the time being."

"Hmm…" Deeks turned his attention towards the backpack sitting next to a sleeping Monty. "You got my bag."

"Yeah, what's in it?" Even in the heat of the moment, Kensi was still curious about the bag.

Deeks shifted onto his side where he could apply pressure to his wound easier. He told Kensi, "It's a backup emergency-apocalyptic go-bag that has my passport, a few trinkets, cash, a weapon, a knife and food for me and Monty."

"I'm impressed."

"Thanks….and I'm sorry for getting you guys into this mess."

Kensi smiled before turning onto the highway. "I'm your partner, Deeks. I'll always be there no matter what."

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes later, both vehicles pulled up to a small house on a beach. It stood on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Standing on the driveway was Hetty and a small blonde woman wearing scrubs. Callen stepped out of the Challenger first and walked over to the silver SUV. Kensi was standing by the driver's seat, grabbing her wallet, keys, and Deeks' bag.<p>

"Sam will get Deeks," Callen said. He placed a comforting hand on Kensi's back. " He'll be ok."

"Yeah…..wait- how did Hetty know to meet us here…..and bring a doctor?" Kensi asked. Callen smiled and said, "It's Hetty. All I told her was that Deeks was attacked and she knew what to do after that."

In the passenger seat of the SUV, Deeks was getting sleepy. The probationary agent leaned forward, wanting to rest his head on the dashboard. He was stopped from doing so when Sam opened the door and grabbed his shoulder.

"Hey, don't go dying on me. I still have to kick your butt for driving my car last week," Sam stated. He took Deeks' arm and helped the man out of the car. Deeks could only respond, "But Hetty said I could….."

"Of course she did." As much as Sam found Deeks to be annoying, he also cared for the younger agent like he was family. As Sam helped Deeks up the driveway, Sam was beginning to regret not showing a little appreciation for Deeks. The ex-Navy Seal made a mental note to change that once the case was over.

"Doctor, you won't have to use needles, right?" Deeks deliriously asked. Sam snorted and followed the doctor inside with Deeks. Behind them, Callen and Kensi walked over to Hetty.

"How did you beat us? And find a doctor?" Callen asked.

Hetty momentarily smiled, stating, "I hope that you aren't doubting my ability, Mr. Callen. Whenever one of my people are hurt, I bring in my resources as fast as efficient as I can. We can talk about that later, though. After Mr. Deeks is attended to, we need to discuss this team's next carefully planned steps in catching this spy, Granger, and Lyons."

An hour later, the team sat scattered around a living room. A bandaged up Deeks was lying next to Kensi on a couch while Sam was pacing down the middle of the living room. Hetty was sitting on an opposing couch and Callen was standing at the window, watching the red horizon.

"In my injured, dazed space out, I overhead you say 'carefully planned steps'," Deeks stated, "What do you mean by that?"

"What I mean, Mr. Deeks, is that you all our going to have to make a choice- a big one. That man that attacked you was hired by Lyons," Hetty responded.

Kensi nervously chuckled. "I had sent that photo that I took of him to you only 90 minutes ago….."

"I'm good at what I do, my dear," Hetty answered, " Roger Kahli is the man's name- he's also the husband of Alexandria, the woman Mr. Callen and Mr. Hanna interviewed yesterday. I have actual physical evidence now that Agent Lyons has been paid to support a spy in NCIS and to keep anyone from poking around. We can assume that some of the money was for Lyons to hire a hit on both those petty officers and Deeks."

Sam sighed in annoyance. "So that leaves Granger and the spy. What's the big choice that we have to make?"

Hetty paused before dumping the contents from a manila envelope onto the living room table. Inside were four sets of fake passports, four stacks of currencies from different countries, and multiple sets of plane tickets. Deeks and Kensi were slightly confused , but Callen and Sam knew exactly what it meant.

"You want us to find this spy ourselves," Callen said.

"With the dead body, I know that Granger and LAPD's police chief will go after Mr. Deeks for murder, regardless of any tangible evidence that they may find. With that, the entire team's credibility and standing will be destroyed. If they succeed, the evidence that Deeks found and our testimonies will be ruled as unusable. However, if we continue what we are doing and go after this spy, Granger will put you all on every watch list around the world for committing treason, again regardless of _any_ tangible evidence."

"So you're saying we're screwed either way?" Deeks exclaimed.

"Not in such words, but yes- those are our only two options and none of them our pretty," Hetty stated, " Everyone would be looking for all of you and if you get caught, death or a life sentence will be the consequences."

_All this for some stupid codes? _Deeks pulled himself to his feet at the thought of never being able to go home. Kensi called out to him, which he didn't hear in his daze. He limped over to a bedroom and closed the door behind him.

"You've got to kidding me," Deeks whispered as he limped over to the bed. He laid on his back and groaned. _All I did was snoop around and now we all have targets on our backs._

Deeks was pulled out of his thoughts at the sound of light knocking at the door. It was Kensi, who called, "Deeks? You ok?"

"I'm alright, Kens," he lied. _I will not let some dumbass spy hurt anyone on this team. Sam's got a family, Callen has….Sam, and Kensi…..I just can't let anything happen to Kensi. _Deeks sighed once he came to a decision; he was going to protect his family and team…

No matter what the cost.


	12. Chapter 12

**Midnight**

Deeks quietly closed the bedroom door behind him. The safe house was quiet and dark, perfect conditions for someone to sneak out. He could tell that no one else was up, as Sam, Callen, and Kensi's room lights were off. Wincing, Deeks limped into the living room with his backpack over his shoulder. He sadly passed Monty, who was sleeping peacefully on the floor.

"Are you going to turn yourself in or find our NCIS spy by yourself?"

Deeks whipped his head around to the corner of the living room where he saw a dark figure. It was Hetty, still dressed in her light brown suit. On any other occasion, Deeks would have joked about her sneakiness, but now he didn't feel up to it. The agent could only say, "I have to do this, Hetty."

"No you don't," the operations manager replied. She walked over to the window where both could see the Pacific Ocean gently hitting the cliff. "Either option leaves you taking one for the team. I hope that you aren't seriously considering doing either."

"Hetty, if I hadn't have found-"

"Mr. Deeks, don't you dare question that decision!" Hetty's tone was harsh and louder, but still quiet enough not to wake the other three sleeping agents. "You found something big that has to be stopped, but I hope you don't believe that this is all on you."

Deeks stepped next to her, running a hand through his messy blonde hair. "I still found something that put targets on everyone else's backs. You all are my family and…..I have to fix this, Hetty."

"I see." Hetty held out a thick manila envelope to the probationary agent. Deeks hesitantly took it before peeking inside.

Hetty looked away before continuing on, "Mr. Beale and Miss Jones did a little extra research and found out that Agent Lyons made a trip to Algiers two days ago. With some pulled favors, they also found that a man is traveling with Lyons, named Alan Pendle. He's a French national with ties to Al Qaeda and a few groups in North Korea."

"Ok. Ok," Deeks repeated, "I find this guy and bring him back with the US and their allies hunting me down. Don't suppose you have a friend or two-"

"That can help you in Algiers? They've been contacted- I made a map of safe places that you can go to in Algiers. There is also a charter plane waiting at a nearby airport ready to fly in undetected. However, I strongly advise that you do this with your team."

Deeks placed the envelope in his backpack. "I know, but if we split up and everyone comes after me, you guys have a better chance of taking down Granger." He paused, noting of Hetty's sad look, "I'm sorry, but I want to- no, have to do this. It would kill me if anything happen to the team, you, Eric, Nell, Monty-"

Hetty sat down on one of the couches, placing both hands on her thighs. There was an exhausted look in her eyes now, a look that made Deeks nervous. The woman always seemed so focus and strong; seeing a crack in her armor frightened him.

"I know I can't stop you, Mr. Deeks. It's a brave sacrifice that you want to make, no matter how much my emotions tell me otherwise," Hetty stated.

"Thanks," Deeks sat down next to her, "why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to come back from this alive?"

"That's how martyrs usually feel. Promise me one thing?"

"Of course."

"Promise that you'll come home alive."

Deeks nodded and stood back up. "I promise, Hetty. Um…since I'm inexperienced in going rouge and badass overseas and….can you do me the favor of telling Sam, Callen, and Kensi one thing for me? You know, just in case."

"Of course, "Hetty pointed to Kensi's bedroom, "Keep in mind that as soon as they discover that you are gone, they will be hunting you down just as relentlessly as Granger will be."

"I know. Let Callen know that I admire his talent, his drive, and his passion for getting these cases done. For Sam, let him know that I always saw him to be a big brother. And for Kens, tell- uh- Kensi that….I love her, always have and always will. Ok?"

"I will."

Deeks closed his eyes and took a breath. Everything in him was trying to get him to stay, but it failed.

He slowly walked out of the house, leaving his family, his job- basically, his entire life behind him.

**7:45am**

Kensi rolled out of bed later that morning, anxious to get started on their plans for Granger and Lyons. The night had been a restless one filled with tossing and turning over the decision she and the team would have to make.

Yawning, Kensi opened her room door and found Callen and Sam standing mouth agape in the living room. She could hear the television blaring in front of them.

"What's going on?" she asked. Callen pointed towards the television with the remote in hand. "Remember Detective Donnelley, our new liaison?" he said.

"Yeah. What about her?" Within all the chaos, Kensi had completely forgotten about the odd detective.

"Well, Deeks was right about her being off. She snapped on a morning drive this morning and killed nine people."

"Wow." _Deeks would make a joke right now…..speaking of, where is he? _She thought. Kensi walked over to Deeks' room door and knocked twice. She hadn't heard from her partner since the team discussion the night before. Everyone had assumed that Deeks was resting.

"Deeks?" Kensi repeated.

Still no response.

"Seriously, Deeks. Open up- you're scaring me." Kensi took a step back, ready to either call Sam over to kick down the door or pick the lock herself. The agent was stopped when Hetty walked into the living room.

"He's not there, my dear," Hetty sadly told her, "I'm sorry to say that he went ahead of everyone else. Mr. Deeks claimed-"

"What do you mean he went ahead?" Kensi exclaimed. A part of her wanted to strangle Hetty, but she knew that wouldn't end well.

"Lyons and the NCIS infiltrator is in Algiers-"

"You sent Deeks to Algiers? By himself? Our Deeks with a stab wound in his leg?" Sam yelled, stepping closer to Hetty.

The operations manager didn't flinch. "I spoke to him and-"

"You couldn't have stopped him, Hetty?" Callen added, "This is stuff that's over _our_ heads! Deeks will get killed within a day!"

"He's capable and can handle himself. I also told him that his team won't be far behind." Hetty handed a manila envelope over to Callen, "Everything you need is here. Bring our man home."

"…..Thanks," the agent muttered, still angry. He turned away to instruct Kensi and Sam. The operations manager calmly took a breath and said, "There is also one other thing."

"What?" Callen snapped irritably.

"Mr. Deeks wanted a few things to be said…..Mr. Callen, he admires you greatly." Hetty gave Callen a gentle pat on the shocked agent's arm before moving onto Sam. "Although he may irritate you at times, Mr. Hanna, he sees you as an older brother and cares greatly for you. Miss Blye-"

"He loves me," Kensi whispered. A part of her had known along, but she didn't want to admit. Hetty nodded and said, "Bring him home safely."

"We will," Callen stated. He turned to Sam and Kensi and told them, "We leave in an hour. "

**Kouba Airport- Kouba, Algeria- 11 hours later**

The jet slowly taxied towards the very end of the lone runway. Kensi tightened her backpack straps while standing right behind Callen. Sam loaded his pistol from the center of the cabin and said, "Remember that we're targets now? As soon as the jet stops, we make a run for that hill over there."

The fog surrounding the airport blanketed a small hill that led to an underpass. Near the top of the hill, the three agents saw a small cabin.

"That's our first marker. Hetty has a Cold War buddy that will shuttle us towards the center of the capital," Sam added.

"Do you think Deeks made it?" Kensi asked nervously.

Sam sighed. "He's a detective at heart. I trust him and know that he's competent, but I don't know if he can make out here on his own."


	13. Chapter 13

**Algiers, Algeria**

It was midnight in the city of three million but the streets were still relatively busy.

Lights shone from store fronts illuminating sidewalks filled with late night shoppers and lurkers. A few members of the local police force were also walking up the main roads, keeping an eye out for disturbances. The trip to the cabin for the three agents went relatively quickly as they traveled up the hill within two hours.

"I thought the cabin was in Kobou," Kensi whispered to Callen as they crept towards the cabin. The lead agent whispered back, "This cabin sits on the border between Algiers and Kobou. We're technically in the capital now. Wait here."

Callen crept towards the porch of the cabin. Sam and Kensi knelt behind two large bushes, Sam keeping watch on the area behind them. Callen stepped towards the door, knocked gently on the cabin door and then took a cautious step back. As the doorknob turned slowly, the agent's hand went to his gun.

A man in his fifties stuck his head out. He then opened the door further and called out nervously, "You three Callen, Blye, and Hanna?"

Callen took his hand off of his gun. "Yes. May we come in?"

"Of course. I'm Damon," the man replied. He stepped aside and beckoned the three agents into the cabin. It was larger than expected; there was a kitchen, a living room and a two bedrooms.

"I hope that this is alright. When Samantha called me, "Damon stammered, "She said that there would be four of you, not three." The three agents automatically knew who "Samantha" was- an alias of Hetty's.

"No, this is perfect," Callen said. Kensi almost thanked the man, but stopped at the sight of the television. The sound was turned down low, but Kensi was more concerned about what she saw.

There was a picture of Deeks on the screen above the words مطلوب or in English, _Wanted. _

"Guys, it's Deeks," Kensi called over her shoulder. Sam and Callen came to her side, both shocked of the photo. The picture was Deeks' LAPD photo.

"You said that you were expecting four of us," Sam said to Damon. The agent pointed to the screen. "That man didn't make it?"

"No…."

"He's at least a day ahead of us," Callen muttered, disappointed. If Deeks hadn't made to the first safe house, something had gone wrong. However, if the US was still looking for Deeks, there was still a little hope that the probationary agent was still alive.

"Well, I'm sorry that your man didn't make it." Damon walked over to the kitchen and pulled out sandwiches. "You all should get some rest-"

"Thanks, but we need to…. blend in with the people here first," Sam stated, "Is there any way you can go down to the city center and get us some supplies?"

Damon smiled, pushing a large container from the kitchen floor and into the living room. "Already done. I have colored contacts, wigs, bronzer, hair dye, Arabic clothing- you name it, I got it."

"Thank you." Sam said and gave Damon a weak smile. In the meantime, Callen watched Kensi collapse onto the couch and run her hands through her hair. She paused before asking Damon, "You've kept an eye on the news, right?"

"Yes."

"How screwed are we?" It was the question that had been in Kensi's head since they flew out of the States.

Damon pointed to the television screen, where now Sam, Callen, and Kensi's photos were being shown in the same manner Deeks' had. The man simply stated, "Very screwed."

* * *

><p>Hours later, Kensi lay sprawled across an air mattress on the living room floor. "Blending in" didn't take too long for them. Kensi's hair was now short and red and her eyes were now green due to contacts. Callen wore a short hair wig and planned on letting the scruff across his face grow out. Sam could only make changes in the way he dressed.<p>

_Deeks would be laughing his ass of right now,_ the brunette agent thought. Her heart dropped when she remembered that Deeks was out in the city alone. No matter how hopeless Callen and Sam made the situation seem, Kensi knew that he was alive out there somewhere….at least she hoped he was.

_Creak._

Kensi shot up and looked towards the window. The creak had come from outside, most likely the porch. Nervous, she turned on her side to see Callen and Sam nodding off on the kitchen floor. Damon was keeping watch for any trespassers from the porch.

_It's probably our guy. _Kensi leaned back against the mattress, hesitant. Despite his age, Damon seemed perfectly capable of keeping watch. However, when Kensi listened for Damon's footsteps, they sounded heavier than before.

_Click. _

The second sound was the noise of a silencer.

Kensi pulled out her weapon from under the living room table. With her backpack in her other hand; Kensi crawled over to where she met a fully alert Callen and Sam. Both were prepared and pointing their guns at the door. The footsteps started to increase, traveling slowly towards the door.

"It can't be US or Algerian forces," Sam whispered, "They would have stormed this place already."

"Lyons?" Kensi suggested.

"How the hell would he know that we're here?"

"I don't know, Sam-"

"Shh!" Callen put a finger to his mouth and held up three fingers. Within a minute, the front door opened, revealing a dark figure holding a silenced SIG Sauer P226. At the sight of the individual, all three agents fired, killing the intruder instantly. Sam took a picture of the dead man before the three agents started running out into the open air and towards the city center.

Kensi caught a glimpse of Damon lying head down with a small bullet hole in his neck. She refocused and sprinted after Callen and Sam down the hill and towards the city center. They crossed a street and stopped for a moment to compose themselves. Callen whipped his head around looking for more attackers. Kensi put her hands on her knees to catch her breath before they all heard police sirens.

"Go!" Sam yelled. Sam and Callen led the way down a back alley, neither noticing that Kensi was falling behind. They turned a corner and made it onto an empty market street. Kensi almost caught up to them, but tripped on a curb and fell onto her stomach. Sam and Callen stopped and yelled, "Kensi!"

The junior agent yelled, "Go! I'll catch up! I know where the second safe house is!"

Both agents gave her a nod and took off down the market street.

Kensi pulled herself to her feet and looked around for a place to hide. The sirens were getting louder and louder, telling her the time was about to run out.

Before Kensi could decide, a dark figure pulled her into an empty building and out of sight.


	14. Chapter 14

Kensi landed on her knees behind a soot covered counter. The figure kept close to her body, covering her mouth with one hand and holding a gun against her back with the other. The agent was stuck; if she made a noise, she would be caught by the police. If she didn't make a noise, whoever was currently holding a gun to her back could kill her.

"Don't make a sound," the figure whispered in her ear. The voice was familiar and male, but Kensi couldn't place it. She only nodded as the beam from a flashlight was shone against the wall of the store. Two sets of footsteps entered the store. Neither came over to the counter.

Kensi closed her eyes and held her breath. The longest thirty seconds of her life passed before the two footsteps left the store front. The man that was holding her whispered, "Follow me and don't make a sound."

"Who the hell are you?" Kensi whispered back. The man behind her paused before whispering, "I thought I taught you not to trust strangers, Fern."

"Bastard," Kensi spat. Deeks put his gun in his bag before Kensi whipped around and slapped him. "What the hell were you thinking placing a gun behind my back like that?" she exclaimed in a loud whisper.

"I'm sorry did you want me to say _Hey it's Deeks _and then have you slap me right as Algerian police officers pass by?"

Kensi stood up and brushed off her shirt. "How about you find a way to help me hide without freaking me out?"

Deeks extended his hand to Kensi, but she pushed it away. Deeks realized that it was a hopeless cause and stated, "We need to get to a safe place-"

"Why the hell should I trust you?" Kensi's voice was getting louder and louder. Deeks covered her mouth, his tired green eyes sending a chill down Kensi's back. Deeks sighed and said, "I'm sorry about-"

Kensi pushed his hand from her mouth. "You just packed up and left without any explanation! I spent the last two days thinking that you were dead! On top of that, you couldn't even tell me that you….that you loved me to my face. Deeks, how is that supposed to make me feel?"

"I know and I'm sorry," Deeks glanced over towards the store front, "Can we discuss this later?"

"Fine. Take me to the next safe house." Kensi crossed her arms as Deeks pulled out his gun again. He stepped out into the street and looked both ways before motioning Kensi to follow him. When Kensi stepped out into the street, she could see more and more of what two days on the run had done to Deeks.

Deeks appeared pale and exhausted; he looked as if he hadn't slept since leaving Los Angeles. His right leg was shaking as his ankle was broken and barely able to withstand Deeks' weight. Oddly enough, Kensi could see strands of blonde hair sticking out from Deeks' dark hood. On the run or not, Deeks intended on staying as Sam called him, "the shaggy detective."

Her partner's appearance left Kensi with so many questions, but as they started walking towards the piers, Kensi decided to hold off.

The woman's first priority was getting somewhere safe.

The questions and kicking Deeks' ass for his actions were second.

**Bay of Algiers- 45 minutes later**

On the roof of a small hotel, Deeks and Kensi were squatting next to each other and were out of sight. They had made it to the bay in good time, but also hadn't heard or seen Sam and Callen. The second "safe house" was a small white yacht that was known to the police and public as a rental for a very wealthy English family. In reality, the "family" consisted of two English friends of Hetty's that were waiting on the boat for the four agents.

"There it is," Deeks muttered, scanning the boat with a set of binoculars. Kensi nudged him and held out a hand.

"Let me see," she told him. Deeks handed over the binoculars and laid his head on his arms. He wanted nothing more than to get on the boat, get some food, lookout for Sam and Callen, and get the well-deserved two days' worth of sleep that he needed. Deeks smiled at the thought of resting his head on a pillow instead of the gravel and asphalt that he had done the last two days.

The probationary agent was so lost in thoughts that it took him a few minutes to realize that his partner was staring at him.

"What?" He asked. Kensi cocked her head slightly, taking in her partner's appearance.

"You look like hell," she commented.

Deeks shrugged and turned his head towards her. "I feel like hell. Don't worry about me too much."

"I can't help it….I've been doing it for two weeks," Kensi pointed to the yacht, "We need to get you in that yacht ASAP."

"Without catching the police's attention," Deeks replied. On the streets below, a squad of Algerian officers was scanning the piers with flashlights.

"Of course….wait a minute." Kensi raised her head and shoulders slightly to get a better look of an interesting sight below them. A black sedan pulled up into the pier and stopped next to the yacht. Both agents held their breaths as two men in suits and dark shades exited the sedan and walked up the ramp towards the yacht. The two men disappeared onto the boat and soon gunshots erupted on the boat.

"There's goes house number two," Deeks growled in annoyance. He pulled out a map of the city and spread it out next to Kensi. He crossed of the firs safe house with a red pen before crossing off the location of the yacht. Two other locations were mapped; one of them on the outskirts of the city and the other 30 miles west of their location.

"At this rate, we won't have anywhere else to go," Kensi exclaimed. Deeks nodded and pointed towards the two men, asking Kensi, "They look familiar to you?"

"Um….." Kensi squinted until a light bulb went off, "Lyons and Pendle, our spy."

"Yeah and they seemed to be cleaning- _ouch_- up every place up before we come." Deeks rubbed his side at a sharp pain. It was the pain of a cracked rib that he had received an hour before running into Kensi.

"Rest Deeks," Kensi told him, "Let's wait up here for a little bit until it clears."

Deeks smiled faintly as his eyes began to feel heavy. "You putting me to bed, Kens. I thought you'd at least read me a bed time stories about ninjas…..or the battleship alarm of yours….." He didn't finish the rest of his statement as the agent drifted off to sleep.

The agent didn't even get an hour of sleep before he was yanked awake by his partner, who was screaming,

"Deeks, we have to go! We have to go now!"


	15. Chapter 15

"What?" Deeks exclaimed. Kensi pulled on his arm, barely allowing the man to grab his bag. He grimaced and took off after Kensi towards the rooftop stairs. He had no idea what was going on- all he knew is that his partner had just pulled on his bruised wrist and that something was wrong.

"Deeks!" Kensi called out again, reaching the stairwell first. She crawled down the first flight and looked up to see her partner slowly squeezing himself into the stairwell opening. He slowly made it down the first flight before turning to face Kensi.

"What's going on-" was the only thing he managed to say before they both heard the sounds of sirens. Kensi pulled out her handgun and smashed the window that was by their feet. It shattered instantly, only leaving a few shards for her to kick away. Deeks looked out towards the bay to see Algerian police lights flashing in the distance. He ran his hand over his arm just as Kensi grabbed his leg and pulled it towards the window. Deeks hadn't even noticed that his partner had slid through the window and was now standing in a dark empty room.

"Deeks, let's go!" Kensi whispered though gritted teeth. Deeks complied to his partner's request and slid through the window, landing gently on his feet. He took a minute to take in their surroundings- both agents were standing in an abandoned, dirty hotel room. The gritty bed looked disgusting and vile, but to the exhausted, injured probationary agent, it looked homey.

"We need…..to…hide," Deeks panted, brushing away the sweat off his forehead. He started to feel dizzy and out of breath. Kensi noticed his behavior and told Deeks, "Sit on the bed. I'll figure something out."

"Whatever …you say…."

Kensi walked over to his side and snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Marty, stay with me."

Deeks' vision was beginning to blur. He muttered, " I'm tired, Kensi…..really tired."

"Deeks!"

"Deeks!"

"_Deeks!" _

The probationary agent mumbled, "Sorry," before passing out.

* * *

><p>When Deeks regained consciousness, he felt warm.<p>

His body felt tingly and warm as if he were sitting in a Jacuzzi. He leaned his head back, thinking that he was actually in a Jacuzzi, before slamming his head onto a wooden wall. It jolted the probationary agent into a fully alert state. When Deeks opened his eyes, he found that the warm feeling was coming from a thick blanket and a fire burning close by. Kensi was sitting next to him, distracted by the items in her backpack.

"So you plan on telling me why we ran from the roof?" Deeks grunted from his spot. Kensi looked up from her bag before sending him a deep, angry glare.

"Do you plan on telling me about all the injuries that you have? Or were you waiting for you to collapse on the streets and have the Algerian police catch us?" Kensi retorted.

"I hadn't really decided yet," Deeks pulled himself up into a sitting position, " Speaking of police- weren't we running from them?"

"They raided this building, but didn't look in the closet for this room. We got lucky, partner."

"Good. We'll need all the luck we can get," Deeks muttered. He saw Kensi's angry expression and added, "I'm sorry, Kensi. Where do I start-"

"From the beginning. I don't know… maybe you can explain why the hell you took off to Algeria by yourself?" Kensi yelled. A _clip _sounded from the other side of the floor, causing both agents to freeze. Kensi crawled over to the door and stuck her head out. After seeing that the coast was clear, she turned back to her partner and demanded, " Talk. Now."

Deeks scooted next to his partner. He felt Kensi tremble when he touched her face to brush away a strewn hair. "I wanted to protect you guys….but I did a lousy job."

"You really didn't think that we'd be coming full force?" Kensi replied.

"I did," Deeks said with a loud sigh, " I was hoping for some time to at least make a move on Lyons and Pendle before you guys made it. Unfortunately, when I got close enough, he spotted me. He's being sending his own guys and the city police on me ever since. Hence, the ankle, the wrist, and the bruised ribs."

"And the lack of sleep." Kensi placed a hand on Deeks' arm. " Don't ever scare me like that again, ok?" she told him.

Deeks responded by kissing her on the cheek. Kensi playful rolled her eyes and told him, "You're on probation, by the way."

"Regular probation or super probation?"

"Super-beyond your wildest imagination probation," Kensi said with a laugh. Her smile faded at Deeks' sudden change in his behavior. With his smile gone and his focus on the fire, Deeks muttered, " I don't think we should focus solely on catching Lyons and Pendle, Kens. I think our biggest concern right now is staying alive and not getting arrested. Hell, I just realized that we might not be able to ever go home."

Kensi slipped under Deeks' arm. "In all honesty, we probably won't be able to go home, but we'll figure it out. We always do."

* * *

><p>Six miles away, George Lyons placed down his laptop onto his lap. He was sitting in his SUV with Pendle next to him. He knew that Hanna, Callen, Deeks, and Blye were scattered throughout Algiers- the rookie and the brunette were somewhere close by, but hadn't been found by Algiers police. It was the most frustrating part of this entire incident.<p>

_Beep. _Lyons looked down at his laptop to see an alert for a new email. He clicked the alert button, which pulled up an email containing an article from the _LA Times_. At first blush, he thought nothing of it until he saw the headlines.

"What is it?" Pendle asked Lyons.

"The OP manager for those agents was arrested today. Her name is Hetty Lange."

"What does that mean for us?"

"That means," Lyons grinned wide while he closed his laptop, " Granger has just cut off their only lifeline. Those four pain in the asses are on their own so if we want to get rid of them, we do it now."


	16. Chapter 16

The next morning, Deeks woke with a pounding headache.

He was lying in the same spot as the previous night- next to the small closet on the floor. His arm was in a make shift sling and bender made from two of his shirts. His forehead was drenched in sweat and covered in small bandages. The probationary agent pulled himself up into a sitting position and saw that his leg was elevated over his backpack.

Sunlight spilled through the windows onto the main floor, allowing Deeks to get a better a view of the dingy, dirty room. For the first time since they had arrived, Deeks realized how crappy the room really was.

"Stupid concussion or whatever made me loony last night," he muttered. He expected a comment from Kensi, which never came. The probationary agent looked around the room before calling out, "Kensi?"

"Right here, Deeks," the brunette replied as she walked into the room. She had her green jacket in her hands, which she dropped onto the floor next to him. "How are you feeling?"

"Like a million bucks, babe," Deeks answered with a smile. The smile instantly disappeared when Kensi gave him a deep, dark glare. He decided to change his response, "Baby cakes? Sweetie pie?"

His partner ignored him and sat down across from him. Kensi placed a hand on Deeks' wrist and commented, "Your arm isn't inflamed anymore so that's good….."

"Kens…"

"I think I have some Advil that should help with your ankle-"

"Hey," Deeks placed a hand on her cheek. Kensi furiously blinked away tears before looking Deeks in the eye. He ran a finger against her cheek and said, "Again, Kens. I am so sorry for leaving you back in Los Angeles," Deeks apologized, "I shouldn't have done it and I know how much it hurt you. Won't happen again."

Kensi placed her hands in her lap and began to toy with the zipper on her jacket. She mumbled, "I thought I had lost you-"

"I know," Deeks gave her a warm smile, "If it helps, I love you."

His words made a small smile appear on her face. Kensi snorted, "Yeah- will that help us get off the FBIs most wanted?"

"We're on the FBIs most wanted?"

Kensi playfully slapped his healthy arm. "I was being sarcastic! You know what- let's focus on the task at hand: creating our game plan."

"Whatever you say, honey bun." Once again, Deeks changed his words at the sight of Kensi's glare. "Oh come on….fine; work first, nicknames later."

"Ok- we need to get food, first aid supplies, some form of an update on things back in LA, and a location on Sam and Callen," Kensi stated. She watched her partner slowly put on a dark brown shirt. He then sat forward and pointed to Kensi's backpack.

"How low are you on supplies?" he asked.

"I barely have enough to make it through tomorrow night because of your injuries."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Deeks muttered. He winced as he lifted his leg off of his backpack. The probationary agent then pulled his backpack into his lap. "Hold on- yeah, I'm pretty low on supplies too."

"So where would we even start to look for anything?" Kensi unwrapped a map and spread it over the concrete floor, "Sam and Callen could be anywhere- including an Algerian cell and US custody. You were here two days before us- did you see any good spots to hide or get supplies?"

"That Lyons wouldn't know about? Let's see, "Deeks scratched his head quickly before pointing to a large intersection on the map."There isn't anywhere that I can think of right now, Kens, but if we want to get an idea of what's out there during daylight, this would be the place to go."

Hariri Square, Algiers

Algiers' most famous square was unusually busy.

A finance convention and a warm weather had brought men and women in business and tourists from all over the world to Algiers. Along with the city's usual midday patrons, Hariri Square was swarmed with almost a thousand people.

Vendors from all over were out selling their best items, tourists were sitting at the city cafes, and residents crossed the streets to get to their destinations. For the two agents, it was the perfect situation for them to explore the city without drawing attention to themselves. Police presence in the square was lower than expected, allowing Deeks and Kensi to sit at a café in disguise. Kensi wore a white floral dress, her red wig, and sunglasses. Deeks was also wearing sunglasses along with a dark hat, a blazer, and jeans. To the untrained eye, they looked like a normal couple on vacation.

Kensi squeezed Deeks' arm and pretended to whisper a joke in his ear. The probationary agent only smiled in response, using the opportunity to scan the café and the nearby environments. And as expected, neither Lyons nor Pendle were seen.

"You see anything?" Kensi whispered into his ear while running a finger down her menu as if she was actually interested in something. Deeks shifted his arm towards the southern area of the square where both agents could see two small fruit vendors arguing on the street. In between those vendors, Deeks could see a large dark skinned man in traditional dress, who was admiring jewelry in a store front window. The man's distinctive walk immediately gave it way to be Sam.

"I got eyes on Sam," Deeks calmly stated.

"In broad daylight? I'm impressed." Kensi pulled up the menu close to them. "How is he?"

"Seems ok. I don't think he saw us. Should we make a move?"

"Well, I think that-"

"Wait." Deeks watched Sam step away from the vendor and continue down the street. The man took a quick glance to his left before disappearing down a small alley. Deeks checked his watch and whispered to his partner, "Let's walk by to get at least an idea of where he's going. If we get too close, someone might spot us."

"Sounds good," Kensi replied. Deeks placed an Algerian 5 dinar coin onto the table. He pulled out Kensi's chair, trying to look as loving and normal as possible. Kensi played along as well, faking a giggle and wrapping an arm around Deeks' arm. They stepped into the crowd and walked towards the alley.

_Something's not right. We've been out in public for twenty minutes and no one has noticed._Deeks thought as they stepped onto the sidewalk near the alley. . He stopped and bent over, taking the opportunity to get a glance of the intersection center where hoards of people were crossing the street.

That's where he realized that they had been made.

Two dark haired men dressed in suits and dark sunglasses were standing next to a streetlight while pointing in the agents' direction. Deeks tapped Kensi's ankle and told her, "We've got company."

Kensi nodded slightly and slowly looked over to the two men. The taller, more physically fit of the two caught her eye. After a few seconds of eye contact, the man started sprinting towards the agents at top speed. Deeks stood and gave Kensi a push into the alley where they both began running as fast as they could.

Kensi was leading, focused on making it to the approaching street. The probationary agent was close behind, pushing through the pain that was shooting up and down his leg. They both almost reached the street, but were stopped at the sound of gunshots coming from behind them. The two men were at least a few hundred yards away and were both shooting. Bullets were hitting the stone wall and the concrete, every one missing Kensi and Deeks.

"Get on the street!" Deeks yelled. Kensi complied and ran onto the crowded street. Cars were scattered throughout the heavily congested street. Kensi tried to head down the road towards the Monument des Martyrs, but was stopped when a small white jeep drove up and halted in front of the agents. When the backdoor opened, Deeks and Kensi saw a sight for sore eyes- teammates Sam and Callen.

Callen was driving and yelling, "Get in!" over the sound of screams from bystanders. Kensi climbed in before Deeks did, who landed on top of her. Two more bullets rang out and both hit two civilians standing nearby. Callen hit the gas and drove off towards the closest highway.

"Oww, that sucked," Kensi gasped.

"I know," Callen said from the front seat, "Nice to see you too."


	17. Chapter 17

**Rocade Sud Highway- 1/2 mile outside of Algiers**

Rocade Sud Highway was extremely busy, making it easy for the small white jeep to blend in with the dozens of other vehicles leaving the capital. Only ten minutes had gone by since the shooting in Hariri Square, yet the four agents were able to get on the highway with no problems. Their easy escape had put Kensi into high alert. She was now sitting upright in the backseat with her pistol in her right hand.

The brunette agent quickly glanced behind her to see if there were any signs of the two men or Algerian police. All she could see were red, white, silver, and grey sedans and cars filled with Algerian residents. Sam watched her for a moment before saying, "Kens, it's midday in a capital city. There's no way police are going to be able to catch us on the highway with this many cars out. The Algerians will probably look for the shooters first. Just relax for a second."

"I guess you're right," Kensi muttered. She placed the handgun in her lap and looked up to see Callen staring at her through the rear view window. "Nice to see you too, Callen. You too, Sam."

"Ha, I'm so touched that you remembered me after Callen," Sam said, feigning sadness, "What happened to you after we had split up?"

"I was going to ask you the very same thing." Before continuing on, Kensi took a moment to take in the appearance of the two elder agents on the team. Sam's arms were scratched up under the long sleeve shirt that he wore. Callen had only one visible scar- a large gash on his cheek. Both looked beyond exhausted just like she and Deeks did.

_Speaking of…_Kensi stated proudly, "Deeks came to my aid. He was…..a true agent out there. You both would be proud."

"Our Deeks?" Sam laughed. He looked back and saw the probationary agent sitting with his head against the window and his eyes closed.

"Hey, Scooby Doo!" Sam called out to Deeks.

No answer.

"Deeks?"

No answer.

Kensi gave her partner a hard shake and got no response. She touched his forehead, which was very warm. Kensi then slapped Deeks' cheek twice, which got him to wake.

"Huh? Wha-" Deeks muttered. He sat up slowly and brushed his hair out of his eyes. The last thing he remembered was landing on top of Kensi after the shooting. "Did I miss…..anything?"

"Not really. You're in shock though and burning up with a fever," Kensi replied.

"Oh, so the usual?" Deeks joked.

"For you, yes."

"Did we at least kill one of them? That'd send a message….to Lyons-"

"Wait? You think Lyons sent those men?" Callen exclaimed from the front seat. Deeks exchanged a confused look with Kensi before answering hesitantly, "Yes."

Suddenly, Callen switched lanes and quickly pulled off the highway. He turned onto a side road that lead near one of the country's national parks. His partner sat next to him quietly, fully aware of what the lead agent's intentions were.

The younger two agents, however, were not.

Half a mile down the road, Callen pulled the jeep to a halt and Sam jumped out. The ex-SEAL opened the trunk and started pulling out all the supplies they had packed before running into Deeks and Kensi.

"What's Sam- what's he doing?" Deeks asked Kensi.

"I don't know. Callen, what are we doing?"

Up front, the lead agent was pulling every item that sat in the glove compartment into his bag. In his frenzy, he hadn't heard Kensi's question.

"Callen!" Kensi yelled out louder, "What are we doing?"

Callen raised his head and looked back at the younger agents through the rear view mirror. "We're ditching the jeep and walking from here on out," he stated flatly.

"I'm sorry…what?" Kensi exclaimed.

"Grab your things and help Deeks out of the car."

"Callen!"

Callen turned towards Kensi and Deeks. He stated sternly, "The only thing that we can do right now is to get the hell out of Algiers. Lyons probably knows what the jeep looks like and will probably come after us before the police gets a chance to. We need to get to walking ASAP."

Callen threw his bag over his shoulder. He walked past Kensi, who was helping Deeks out of the car. Callen continued, "I have a friend in Birkhadem who may be able to help us. Deeks, Sam will help you walk while Kensi and I carry bags."

"Callen, this is crazy-"Deeks protested.

"I know, but if we were to stay in the city any longer, we'd be caught. If we can make it to Birkhadem, we should be able to recuperate for a few days, get you medical help, and make a game plan on what to do next," Callen stated, "Guys, we don't have a choice."

Sam gave him a nod once he put an arm around Deeks' waist and put the young agent's arm over his shoulder. "Callen's right. We need to get going. Everyone ready?"

He received three nods. "Alright, let's go then."


	18. Chapter 18

After an hour of walking, the team was still far from reaching Birkhadem.

They were traveling through back roads in a small community outside of the city. It was nearing sunset, but it was still incredibly hot. Callen and Kensi were leading the group while they hauled four heavy backpacks. Deeks was now walking alone in front of Sam, giving the SEAL a break from aiding him.

"I know….this….may sound childish, but are we there yet?" Deeks panted.

Up front, Callen replied without looking over his shoulder, "Just hold on, Deeks."

"Callen, we need to stop," Kensi panted. She put her hands on her knees to catch her breath, "We've been walking for a while now and we're still not there yet-"

"G, I gotta agree with them," Sam said, "We have to get the hell out of the heat." He ran down to the end of the road that and stuck his head around the corner. On the next street, there were only two cars, both in one driveway. The street was also very quiet, meaning that either the homeowners on this block weren't home or that it was just a usually quiet area.

"You're not proposing breaking into someone's home, are you?" Deeks anxiously asked at the contemplating look on Sam's face. Sam rolled his eyes and snapped, "You have a better idea?"

"Well- wait, is this to get out of the heat or to res-"

"Shh!" Kensi shooed Deeks at the sight of a white truck turning onto the street. The four agents ducked behind a garage as the truck passed by. The truck turned the corner and was soon out of sight, prompting the four agents to quickly dart across the road and towards the smallest house on the block.

Callen reached the other side of the street first and holstered his weapon. He led the group to the side of the house where a small gate separated the front yard from the backyard. He quickly picked the lock before allowing Sam, Kensi and Deeks to enter.

Callen pointed back to the street. "Kens, double check the area to see if we are clear. Sam and I will try and open the backdoor."

"Ok." Kensi jogged to the front door, leaving Sam and Callen to their work. Deeks had no choice but to sit in the grass and wait. He was thankful for the elder agent's decisions to pick this house- there were trees shading the backyard and had no visible cars in the driveway.

"Got it," Deeks heard from Sam. The probationary agent sat up slowly to see Sam push the backdoor open. Sam disappeared into the house, soon followed by Callen. Deeks pulled himself onto his feet before limping towards the back door and inside the house.

"Is anyone home?" Deeks asked.

"Not that I can see of," Callen answered. He walked towards the bathroom to clear the room.

"There's food….looks like non-perishables," Deeks called out from his position in front of the fridge. Kensi was in the living room as she snorted, "Only you would find the food, Deeks."

"I'm surprised you didn't find it first, cupca-"Deeks stopped when a wave of dizziness passed over him. He coughed loudly twice, which caught both Kensi and Sam's attention. Deeks unconsciously took a step back and his legs gave out. Sam reached out and grabbed the younger agent's arm before he could hit the ground.

"No, no. Deeks, you can't pass out on us like that. We can't stay here," Sam told Deeks. The blonde agent was lowered to the ground where he could put his head between his knees. Kensi was by his side within seconds.

"'m sorry," Deeks gasped, "I'm….in shock, like Kens said. I need-need-"

"Shh…" Kensi whispered. Sam looked between Kensi and Callen and stopped at his partner's thoughtful expression.

"What are you thinking, G?" Sam asked.

"We got lucky again. I think we can stay here for at least the night. Look-no one's been home for a while now." Callen ran a finger over the dining table and showed it to Sam and Kensi. "There's dust collecting on the table, the fridge has nonperishables- I think the homeowners on vacation."

Kensi started to run Deeks' shoulder. "You seriously want to stay the night What about your friend in Birkhadem?"

"We can't keep going. Deeks needs to rest, hell- we all need to rest. We can take some of the food, water, the first aid kit and then leave in the morning. Also, I think- I think we need to make a phone call home."

"What?!" Sam and Kensi exclaimed.

Callen pulled out a small, black burn phone. "We need to let Nell or Eric know that we're ok. If Hetty's in jail, they're the ones we talk to. I'll make a call that'll be less than 30 seconds and then toss the phone. It's much less the amount of time it takes to trace a call."

Sam sighed, "I don't know G."

Callen turned to Kensi. She glanced down to Deeks, who was slipping in and out of consciousness. Kensi took in her partner's frail appearance before stating strongly, "Callen's right. Make the call."

**Los Angeles, California- 10:00am local time**

_That's the news at ten. Up next, local authorities in Algiers have little to go on about the recent shooting in Hairi Square where four civilians were injured. The identity of the two shooters are unknown, but a sighting by an anonymous tip place the four NCIS agents wanted for treason at the scene…"_

Nell Jones lay on her couch with a hand gripping the remote and her legs dangling off the edge of the couch. She was watching ABC, trying to get as much information about the shooting as she could. The analyst couldn't use her computer skills to get any information since Granger had determined her to be a person of interest.

The previous two weeks had been hard on her, making her feel completely useless. The day after the team had left; Granger had put Eric, Hetty, and herself on his radar as "persons of interest who contain information to hunt down those traitors". Besides having no information on the actual status of the team, the remaining three members had to tread carefully. Eric was playing by Granger's rules to the tee, to avoid any forma of unwanted attention. Hetty's caution had come in the form of avoiding contact with Granger, which soon led to her arrest. Nell had been the complete opposite of Eric and gave Granger so much defiance that it resulted in a month long suspension.

_Buzz. _Nell sat up at the sound of a vibrating phone from under the couch. It wasn't her regular cell phone, but was the burn phone that she had hid under the couch. Before answering the phone, Nell turned the volume up on the TV just in case Granger had sent someone to bug her house. The chances were low, but Nell wanted to be safe.

Nell quickly pulled the phone from its position of being tabled by a leg. She answered, "Hello?"

A coarse voice replied, "Can you talk?"

"Yes," Nell answered as quietly as she could.

"Good. I can only say this once and fast. Listen good- Birkhadem. 24 R & R. Full team, the SEAL's bane in need of assistance. Exfil ASAP- new contact, new burn. Last four-9284. 24 hours."

Then she heard silence. The caller had hung up.

Nell pulled out the SIM card and battery and crushed both with her heel. She then tossed the remains and the cell phone into the toilet and flushed. Nell quickly grabbed a notepad from the hallway table and wrote down every word that the caller had told her and translated the short hand Callen and Sam had taught her the previous summer.

_Caller- Callen. Voice sounds diff; exhausted? Injured?_

_Birkhadem- present location. Most likely near Algiers._

_24 R & R -they're stopping to rest for 24 hours_

_Full team, the SEAL's bane in need of assistance- everyone's ok, but Deeks needs medical help_

_Exfil ASAP- new contact, new burn. Last four- 9284. 24 hours- They need me to get them out. Callen will call on a new burn within 24 hours. The last four digits of his caller ID will be 9284._

Nell turned on her heels to walk towards the front door when she heard something that made her freeze. The TV was still on ABC where a reporter stated clearly, "We have just heard the statement from NCIS Assistant Director Owen Granger. In case you missed it, he promised the capture of the NCIS agents with the deployment of a team of CIA and NCIS agents into Algiers. Assistant Director Granger hopes that with this team of highly skilled agents and Algerian police, these agents will be captured within 24 hours."


	19. Chapter 19

**Los Angeles, California**

Nell stood in front of the TV with her hands trembling. She had to get in contact with the team ASAP- however, there was one problem. Callen had stated that he would call Nell within 24 hours, no earlier or later than that. Nell assumed that he had also destroyed his own burn phone just like she had, putting her chances for getting the team a warning call at zero.

_Oh my God! Oh My God, _Nell quietly panicked. She looked over to her couch where her yellow jacket and keys were sitting on one of the arms. Nell nervously pulled on her jacket, momentarily unsure of what to do next.

_What about Eric? _Nell paused, remembering her partner who was currently at the OPS center. If she could get him to somehow send a message to the other team members, maybe there was hope…

Nell grabbed her keys and sprinted over to her door. She opened the door to see none other than Owen Granger. Two dark haired agents stood behind him, both sporting their NCIS badges on their waists.

Nell calmly stepped to Granger and said in a mockingly cheerful voice, "Good morning, _Assistant _director Granger." The analyst's enunciation on the word assistant made Granger's face turn red, much to Nell's pleasure.

"You're under arrest," Granger snapped at her.

Nell crossed her arms and smirked at Granger. "Really? For what?"

"You are under arrest for aiding and abiding four individuals that are wanted for _treason. _I'm know that you just contacted your team."

"And what proof do you have of that?"

Granger was inches from her face. "Miss Jones, I know people who have technology that you haven't even heard of yet. Technology that can trace an old call between two burn phones whether they are active or not. I have a friend who's in the process of finding out where the hell your team is," the man snarled.

Nell pursed her lips together. "Hmmm, well first- you will never catch or find them. And two, get your friend a pretty pony for being so special."

An alert noise came from Granger's phone, causing him to look at the screen. A large grin appeared on his face, which made Nell's stomach drop.

"This friend of mine will definitely be getting a raise," Granger said, "Your team members aren't in Algiers. Actually, they're closer to Birkhadem, aren't they?"

Nell winced at his comment. Granger laughed, "No more witty comments?"

"You won't get away with this," Nell spat.

"I believe I just did." Granger turned to the two agents and said, "Get her out of here."

**Birkhadem, Algeria**

Deeks opened his eyes at the sound of a snore.

The last thing he remembered was hearing Callen making the call to someone in Los Angeles. He didn't know who it was or even how long ago the conversation had been. Deeks had been in the kitchen; now he was sitting in the hallway with Callen, Kensi, and Sam in a dark, humid house. The team had spent the first part of the night sitting in almost 75%humidity. Now, the A/C quietly ran from the living room allowing the four agents to rest in a little bit of comfort.

Deeks took a moment to observe the hallway. His backpack was sitting near the kitchen doorway and appeared to look full. Next to his backpack layed Kensi, who had her feet towards the bags and her head next to Deeks. She looked beautiful to Deeks for a minute before she let out a snore. Moving on to the other teammates, Deeks saw Callen lying across from them with his head on backpack. Deeks smiled weakly at the view of his sleeping superior. For a man so composed and strong, Callen slept on his back and with a mouth open. If it wasn't for the aching pains in his body, Deeks would have taken a picture for any future threats or hazing that could come from the older two agents.

If they ever made it home unscathed.

"Morning, sunshine."

Deeks looked over to Sam, who was smiling at him from his spot next to Callen. Deeks still felt so drowsy that he hadn't even noticed that Sam was awake.

"Hey….I pass out again?" Deeks asked.

"Actually, yes. I'm honestly surprised you even made it these far- cracked ribs, a sprained ankle, a not fully healed stab wound, a slightly swollen wrist- I'm actually impressed."

"That I'm alive?"

"No, that through all that joking and wise cracking, you're actually one hell of an agent."

"Really?" To Deeks, Sam's compliment gave the same feeling a child felt on Christmas. "I thought I was the bane in your existence?"

"You still are….but you're family. Plus, everyone needs a little pain in their ass to follow them around."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Deeks said. He looked over to see his sleeping partner and ran a hand through her hair. "What time is it?"

"Around two."

"Did I miss anything?"

"Not really. Callen and I restocked everything that we could while Kensi took care of you. There was a change of plans, though. We're going to leave two hours earlier than planned to head to Birkhadem. We won't go too far before Nell calls us. Leaving early will just be a precaution."

"Ok. Anything I can do to help?"

"Why don't you get so more rest?" Sam suggested.

Deeks looked between Callen and Kensi. "I should at least-"

"No Deeks. You out of all us need rest. Do you know how much work we had to put in to keep your pain in the ass alive?"

Deeks paused, not realizing that overall he felt better than he had in a few days. He could see a bandage around his wrist and ankle. "Thanks for that."

"Hmmm. Go to sleep, Shaggy."

Deeks closed his eyes and smiled. He started to drift back to sleep, slowly pulling himself into a dream of Kensi and him alone on a beach. The thought made him happy, especially since he was…..allowed to have such a dream.

Suddenly, the noise of something shattering echoed from the bottom floor. Kensi shot up and instantly put her hand on her gun just like Callen and Sam. Callen pulled his bag close to him and whispered, "Someone's in the house."

Deeks groaned and thought, _Not again! Why is it that every time I fall asleep something bad happens?_


	20. Chapter 20

"Seriously?!" Deeks exclaimed. He received an elbow from Kensi. Callen and Sam both took out their weapons. Callen glanced back to the stairwell that led to the attic.

"You two quietly get upstairs. We'll check it out," he directed. Kensi protested, "We can help."

"Kensi, this an order. Go!" Callen whispered. Deeks nodded and slowly hoisted himself onto a knee. Kensi grabbed their bags and pulled the probationary agent onto his feet. She looked over to where Sam and Callen had been standing and saw that both agents had disappeared.

"Kens, let's go," Deeks whispered. He pulled her towards the stairs where they both quietly crawled up to the top as quietly as they could. At the top, Deeks found a hatch that closed off the attic. On the handle of the hatch was a large, silver lock.

"Don't suppose you have bolt cutters in your bag?" Deeks asked. Kensi huffed loudly under her breath and gave the lock a tug. Deeks rolled his eyes and said, "That would have been a really terrible lock if you could just pull-"

"Deeks, not now!" Kensi snapped in a loud whisper. She hit her gun against the lock, which didn't make a difference.

"Please tell me your next plan isn't to shoot the lock off-"

"Deeks!" Kensi exclaimed, "Do you have a plan, smart ass?"

"Yes. It's to make less noise than you are right now. Wait, listen for a minute." Both agents paused and realized that the house was completely quiet.

" Sam and Callen are still here right?" Deeks whispered. Kensi rolled her eyes at her partner's question before soon realizing that the newest agent had a point. The house was too quiet even more so than when it was just the four of them.

"Let's go check it out," Deeks suggested. He slid down two steps before Kensi put a hand out and stopped him.

"No, limpy. You can barely walk. I'll go check it out." Kensi slowly slid down the stairs with gun in hand. She started down the hallway towards where Callen and Sam had gone and was soon out of sight. Deeks stayed in his spot, feeling more and more nervous at each quiet passing moment.

After what he thought was five minutes, Deeks eased himself down another stair nervously. With the house being so dark, he couldn't see a thing. After what he was sure was 10 minutes passing by, Deeks pulled himself onto his feet, ready to go after his friends.

"There's four of them. There's one left- I'm sure of it."

Deeks froze at the sound of an unfamiliar voice coming from the kitchen. He sat down and aimed his gun out and thought _Crap. If that's the intruder, where the hell are Kensi, Sam, and Callen? There's no way one guy took down three experienced agents that quietly._

He didn't get a chance to think of an answer to his question.

A man suddenly appeared in the hallway dressed in all black. He aimed his gun and Deeks and said calmly, "Agent Deeks, put the weapon down."

Deeks growled, "No, you put your weapon down! Who are you?"

"Someone who's here to get a job done. Put your weapon down. Don't make me tell you again!"

Deeks winced and stood back up again with his gun still trained on the other man. He recognized the accent of the man to be French, having him belief that he was in a confrontation with an Algerian police officer. "Where's my partner? …And the other two guys?"

Another voice appeared from below the stairs. Deeks' eyes darted over to see another man in black standing with a gun trained on him as well. The agent swallowed hard and decided to change tactics.

"Hey, I'm not looking for a firefight. I just want to know who you guys are," Deeks calmly stated. The man standing near the kitchen yelled, " Put the gun down! This is your last warning!"

"OK! Ok!" Deeks slowly placed his gun on the stair below his feet. He put both hands in the air and added, " My gun is down and I'm unarmed. Now, if you can just identify-"

The man on the stairs ran forward and picked up Deeks' gun. He kept his gun trained on Deeks and commanded, "Follow me ad stay quiet."

_Stay quiet? What kind of cops tell you to be quiet during an arrest? _Deeks hesitantly limped down the stairs and followed the man with the accent down the hallway and towards the garage. Deeks kept his eyes focused on the man that walked behind him, just to make sure that there was no execution- like move about to be played. When they entered the garage, Deeks stopped at the sight of a large black van.

"Hands behind your back," the man behind him said. Deeks opened his mouth to protest before his hands were thrust behind him and a zip tie went around his wrists. The man with the accent opened the door to the van and pushed the agent head first into the back. Deeks landed on his back and screamed out, "Wait! Who are you?"

The door slammed close and Deeks soon heard the engine start. Deeks yelled louder, "Who the hell are you? Where are the other agents?"

The man with the accent stated, "All you need to know is that you can trust us-"

"You've handcuffed me, tossed me in a truck, and won't tell me where my friends are! How can I trust you? Are you CIA? NCIS? Granger sent you, didn't he?"

The man with the accent crawled into the back and muttered, "Lange said that this one would be just as hesitant….."

"Lange? As in Henrietta Lange?" Deeks exclaimed. The man unholstered his pistol and said, "I'm sorry for this."

_Who apologizes in the middle of a kidnapping? What the hell is going on here? _were the last two thoughts Deeks had before he felt the hard, cold metal of the man's pistol slam across his jaw and knock him unconscious.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: I apologize for the delay. School started =[**

"He's different than what I had thought he'd be."

"That was to be expected. We need to wake him."

The probationary agent felt a tug on his arm and ignored it. He hoped that he was dreaming and still sleeping in the dust covered house near Birkhadem or even in his own bed back in Los Angeles. When he felt the tug again, Deeks woke with a start and sleepily yelled out, "LAPD put your hands up or I…."

The man trailed off when he realized that he was lyingon a mattress that had been placed on the floor. Ignoring the pounding headache, Deeks shook his head before touching his jaw and wincing. He then looked up and saw that he was lying in front of the man with the French accent, who had taken his gun at the house. Deeks was surprised to see the man now in military uniform with a small patch on his shoulder that read _NATO. _

_NATO means that's we're in trouble. _"Who-who are you? And where am I?" the agent stammered.

"We're here to help you-" the man with the French accent stated calmly, "I'm Paul Jamie, ex- NATO, and I was sent by Henrietta Lange-"

"Hetty? Wait; did you say ex-NATO?"

Jamie watched the dazed agent push himself up onto all fours. He shook his head in disbelief before walking over to Deeks' side and pushing him down onto the mattress. Jamie kneeled next to Deeks, who was blinking furiously and trying to get control over his dizziness.

"As I was saying, I am Jamie and I'm here to help. I'm not here to hurt you, Agent Deeks. We had to make it look like your team was captured so it wouldn't draw suspicion."

The dizziness has turned into a buzzing in Deeks' head. He groaned, "Wouldn't draw suspicion? What are you talking about?"

"It was part of plan that Henrietta created," a deep voice with a thick Russian accent boomed from the other side of the room. Deeks almost jumped out of skin when he realized that there had been someone else in the room with Jamie and him. The other man stepped forward, revealing himself to be the other man that had come to the house with Jamie. The man was also wearing a NATO uniform and was bigger than Deeks had thought, although he had first met the man in the dark.

"No, no, no," Deeks muttered. He scooted back towards the wall where he could get some distance between him and the two ex- NATO men. "This isn't- this can't- how the hell do I know that you guys aren't Granger's men? Where are my friends? Where the hell are we and seriously dude, why did you hit me so hard?"

Both men exchanged looks. Jamie took a deep breath and said, "We're your friends, Agent, that's the most important thing. We have both worked with Henrietta in the past and owe her our lives. How about we make a deal- we will tell you everything that you want to know if you promise to cooperate with us, sound good?"

Deeks glanced over to the other man, who was watching Deeks carefully. The agent turned back to Jamie and replied, "You promise not to hit me and you've got a deal. First question, where are my friends and how did you get them?"

"Jamie, I will tell him," the man with the Russian accent stated, "You go make sure that plane is ready."

As Jamie left the room, Deeks raised an eyebrow at the mention of a plane. With the millions of questions running through his mind, he decided to save the one about the plane for later. "Before you say anything," Deeks told Heim quickly, "You have to tell me your name."

"Alexsei," the man answered, "Second in Command Alexsei Heim. Now on to first question-Agents Blye, Hanna, and Callen are safe. They are in separate locations and will reunite with you later. It is for your protection. All part of plan."

"Which was…?"

"A week before Henrietta went to jail-"

"Hetty's in jail?!" Deeks exclaimed. He then closed his mouth and thought, _Why do I feel like I already knew that? _

"You didn't know?" Heim asked curiously. Deeks shook his head and replied, "I might have- I don't know. Along with the concussion your friend gave me, I've had more injuries than I can count within the past two weeks. Continue."

"Ok. Anyway, Henrietta had set up agreement that if all other plans fell through, we would come in and pull you all out of Algeria. With her in jail and her analyst Nell Jones also in jail-"

"Wait, what? Nell's in jail too?!" Deeks exclaimed at the top of his lungs. He quieted down at Heim's impatient look.

"As I was saying," Heim growled, "Eric Beale gave us an alert that Granger was going to send agents into the country to find you all." The man paused, expecting Deeks to yell out something in shock. When he heard nothing from the agent, he continued, "You were all found quite quickly, but the problem was how to get you out without tipping Granger and his men and the Algerian police."

"So you decided to kidnap us?"

"Fake arrest. As ex- NATO, a title we both acquired within the last six months, we still have access to many programs and items that we can use and still make it look like an active NATO project or mission. We saw it as this- Algerian police see two NATO personal drag four unconscious agents wanted for treason out of a house, they get angry and call the US government, wanting answers. The US government and military will say that they have no knowledge of a NATO mission to arrest the team. Both sides argue and by the time they realize that this entire thing is a scam-"

"We'll be long gone," Deeks finished. "That explains why you wouldn't tell me anything in the house, how you took down my friends- wait, how _did _you take down my friends that fast?"

Heim gave a deep hearty laugh which confused Deeks. Heim said, "When we came to house, your team members were taken out through…unique means. Agent Blye and Agent Callen were a struggle but we took them down quietly with a sedating agent. Agent Hanna, however, was much harder and required us to use up most of our agent, leaving little for you and Miss Blye. By the time we found you, we had no resources left. It's why Jamie had to hit you. Sorry."

Jamie suddenly reentered the room and said, "The plane is ready. We need to leave."

"Yeah, about that," Deeks slowly stood up, "My last question before we go. Why are we going on a plane and again, where are we?"

"Setif, Algeria. You didn't expect us to get you out of the country through a national airport, did you?"

"No, you got me there."

"Yes. Agent Blye will fly out from Relazine within 4 hours of your departure on a business jet that is outside this building. Agent Hanna has already flown out from Jijel and Agent Callen was very lucky to fly out from Blida. Everyone left on small private planes that will travel to multiple spots before landing in the target zone, somewhere undecided in the Pacific. This is your only option, Agent Deeks. With Henrietta, Miss Jones, and soon Mr. Beale all in jail, you have no allies at home. Jamie and I can help you for only so long."

"So this isn't to find somewhere to rest and find a way to fight back," Deeks muttered nervously, "This is about finding somewhere to hide, possibly for good."


	22. Chapter 22

**Fuaʻamotu International Airport- Tongatapu, Tonga**

" I have to say," Deeks commented when the jet touched down on to a small asphalt runway, " I was never really good with geography, especially in the Pacific. Where exactly are we? And why?"

It had been a long 37 hours of traveling for him, Jamie, and Heim. To throw off any possible trail, they had flown from Algeria to southern Uzbekistan before stopping for a few hours to get Deeks medical treatment in Meghalaya, India before heading towards Tonga.

"How long have you been agent now?" Heim grunted from the back of the cabin.

Deeks smirked, placing his right arm that was in a dark blue cast on the head of the chair. "About two and a half weeks."

Heim looked up in disbelief, which made Deeks chuckle. Up front, Jamie shook his head and told the two men, " Tonga is a small island with just over 100,000 residents- no one will look here. Now, remember, we will be pulling up to a private hanger where there will be a vehicle for you, Agent, to drive back to the safe house."

"You're not coming?" Deeks asked in surprise. Although he had spent a large chunk of the trip annoying Heim for fun, he had grown to like both Heim and Jamie. The captain reminded him of Callen, in terms of his personality. And in many ways, Heim's quick irritation with every word that came out of Deeks' mouth reminded him of Sam.

"No, Agent. We've done all that we've can. Both Heim and I need to go our separate ways," Jamie grinned, "It's best that Granger doesn't catch us all at the same spot."

"Oh," Deeks held out his good arm and shook Jamie's hand. "Thank you for everything. I- we wouldn't have gotten anywhere without you guys."

"I wouldn't say that," Jamie stated, "We just gave you a little push." The captain pulled out a manila envelope from his duffel bag. "Here's a couple grand to help you all on the way, your own personal keys to the safe house which is fully supplied to last you all at least a month."

Deeks graciously took the envelope and stuck it into his own bag. The plane was now pulling up to a small white hanger away from the terminal. Deeks pulled himself onto his feet and limped towards the cabin door, still not used to the boot cast that he also wore. Deeks pulled the duffel bag onto his good shoulder before giving both Heim and Jamie a gracious nod. When he felt the jet come to a stop, the cabin door opened and the stairs extended towards the ground.

Deeks hobbled down the stairs and spotted a black SUV sitting near the entrance of the hanger. With a loud groan, Deeks continued to limp over to the SUV until he got to the passenger door. It was then that the agent didn't realize that he had no keys to open the SUV. Deeks turned around and saw that the stair jets had already been pulled back into the plane.

_Why would they…unless they forgot…_Deeks paused before pulling the manila envelope out of his duffel bag. He dug his hand inside and felt his fingers touch a ring of keys at the bottom of the envelope. He pulled out the keys and thought, _Of course._

**Malapo, Tongatapu, Tonga**

"Hello?" Deeks called out when he entered the safe house forty minutes later. It was a two story house that sat hidden in the rainforest at the edge of the small village. Deeks had driven the car down a deep trail and parked before walking a half a mile towards the house.

"Anyone home? Kensi? Callen? Sam?" Deeks called out. Sore and exhausted, Deeks dropped the bag to the ground and headed up the stairs. On the second floor, Deeks sat down on the ground next to the top of the stairs. " Anyone? Oh come on, guys. I'm tired…..kind of hungry…and need some lovin'- Kensi!"

No response made Deeks more irritated. He grabbed onto the railing and pulled himself onto his good foot. He limped towards the closest bedroom and opened the door to find Kensi lying on her bed with her headphones on.

"Kensi!" Deeks yelled, which got Kensi's attention. She shot up and pointed her gun at Deeks. The blonde haired agent groaned and exclaimed, "Seriously, you didn't hear me calling you?"

Kensi placed the gun onto the nightstand. "Hello to you too, Deeks."

"Why- are you blasting stereo while ¾ of the world is out to kill us?" Deeks continued, "You should be on high alert all the time, Kensi!" He stopped to catch his breath. Kensi slid off the bed and put her hands on her hips.

"Feel better?" she asked in a calm, soft voice. Deeks sighed and dropped his arms, muttering, "Yeah."

"Good." Kensi walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him tightly. Deeks hugged her back and kissed her cheek. Kensi pulled her head back and whispered, " I'm scared, Deeks. I know I'm usually strong and badass, but right now I'm actually scared. I'm trying to be positive, I really am and it's getting hard. When we were rescued from the house, I thought for a second that you, Sam, and G. had all died. It's so hard- that's why I was listening to my music- I was trying to calm my nerves by doing that beach daydream thingy we did in San Diego to music."

Deeks chuckled lightly. " What happened to it being silly?"

Kensi lightly hit his arm. " Shut up. I guess I was wrong."

"Yeah." Deeks quickly glanced out the window where he could see a faint outline of a mountain. He said, "I'm scared just like you. Every day since we left I've been blaming myself for this. If I hadn't of looked in that building, all of us would be home. Sam would be with his daughters and the rest of us could go home to our beds feeling only slightly paranoid that someone was sitting across the street ready to kill us. Now, we…..we're fugitives, Kens, and I'm so sorry."

Kensi furrowed her brow and took a step back. "Deeks, yes- we are on the run and we'll probably never go home, but I am so glad that you found those codes. I'd rather be out here with you, Sam, and Callen trying to take down Granger than sitting at home. So I don't ever want to hear you say otherwise, got it?"

"Yes, ma am," Deeks replied with a salute. He motioned over to the bed. "One quick thing- the beach daydream doesn't work when it's just one person."

Kensi rolled her eyes and crawled back into the bed. Deeks crawled in next to his partner with a goofy grin. They both closed their eyes and Deeks began describing the both of them a new beach scenario, both still on high alert, but relaxed- a first in weeks.


	23. Chapter 23

"_Police!" _

_Deeks and Kensi were awaken by yells from law enforcement breaching their bedroom. Flashlights shined over their faces, making it impossible for either agent to recognize who was arresting them. Instinctively, Deeks reached for his gun that sat on the nightstand before being tackled by two officers. _

_On the other side of the bed, Kensi put her hands in the air and calmly said, "It's ok. It's alright. We're down. We surrender."_

_Suddenly, Granger walked into the door, leaving Deeks less than a second to realize that the man who had been hunting them had finally won. Without even a blink, Granger pulled out a firearm and fired two shots into Kensi. _

"_No, no!" Deeks screamed as Kensi collapsed in a heap onto the floor. Two officers grabbed both of his arms and pushed him face down onto the bed._

"_You son of a bitch! You killed her!" Deeks screamed, "I swear to God I'll kill you! If you so much as-" _

"_Touch Agent Hanna, Callen, or the two little runts back in LA? Too late," Granger snarled. As Deeks fidgeted while furious, Granger kneeled next to him and whispered, " And it's all because of you."_

"No!" Deeks yelled before he felt a tug on his arm. _It was only a dream, _he thought in relief as he glanced over to see Kensi sitting at the edge of the bed with a worried look on her face.

"You scared the hell out of me," Kensi stated, "You were screaming when I was downstairs and I thought that something had happened. You ok?"

"Yeah, I'm ok, Fern," Deeks laughed nervously, wiping the sweat from his brow. The nightmare had felt so real that he wanted to pinch himself to confirm that he was awake.

"Don't lie to me, Marty." Kensi had rarely used his first name; Deeks had assumed that that was saved up for emergencies like when he had spilled Red Bull on the passenger seat in Kensi's car. The probationary agent bit the inside of his cheek at the memory of Kensi calling him by his first name among other things.

"Like I said before," Deeks kissed her on the cheek, "I'm fine. It was just a stupid dream." _A stupid, frightening dream that could actually come true. _

Kensi nodded and gave Deeks' good leg a gentle pat. " Ok. Oh- by the way, the next time someone kidnaps the rest of your team, don't be afraid to come help us," she joked.

Deeks smirked. "Yeah….two NATO agents against…what was it you called me? Oh yeah- limpy. That would have been fun." He pulled himself into a sitting position before realizing that Kensi had changed her outfit. "When did you get up?"

"I never went to sleep. You didn't even make it to describing what I was wearing before you dozed off," Kensi teased. Deeks half mindedly nodded while scanning the room again. When his eyes fell on his backpack, the agent remembered that half of their team was still missing.

"You hear from Callen and Sam yet?" Deeks asked nervously.

Kensi stood up, her body facing away from Deeks. "They just arrived- Callen's in the kitchen and I think Sam's making sure the perimeter around the house is safe." She caught a flinch from Deeks, " Are you sure that you're ok?"

"I'm ok, Kensi," Deeks replied.

"Good." Kensi stood up and slowly backed up towards the door. "Take a minute to clean up and then come meet us downstairs. The guys are a little suspicious of Heim and Jamie and if something is off, we need to figure out an exit strategy. Got it?"

Deeks gave her a less than enthusiastic salute. " I got it."

Ten minutes later, Deeks limped down the stairs that led towards the living room. He could hear the noise of the large television, playing what he could only assume to be some Asian talk show. Once he had made it to the last step, Deeks could see Kensi's ponytail sticking over the head of the couch. He heard a light chuckle as well, alerting him of Callen's presence next to Kensi.

"Didn't figure you for a talk show guy, Callen," Deeks called out. The lead agent stood up and turned around before grinning.

"Deeks, how was your beauty rest?" Callen teased. He walked over to Deeks and gave him what Kensi had affectionately called, "The bromance hug." Callen gave Deeks a light pat on the back and pulled away.

"You had us worried there for a second," Callen stated.

"Me?" Deeks laughed, " Just because I have a broken ankle, a sprained wrist, a few bruised ribs….well, now I see what you're talking about." Next to the men, the front door creaked open and Sam stepped inside. His cautious expression changed when he saw Deeks.

"Well if it isn't Shaggy," Sam said. He and Deeks exchanged a fist bump, which was followed by Kensi saying, " Awwww, all this bromancing is just so adorable," from her spot on the couch.

"You think that's adorable? Wait and see what I have for you, Tiger," Deeks joked. His attention changed when Kensi changed channels and landed on CNN.

"How are we getting CNN?" Deeks asked. Sam smiled and plopped down in the armchair across from the couch. Callen put a hand on Deeks' shoulder and explained, "First- Tongans speak English and Tongan. Two- we're only 600 miles from the American Samoa and 3000 from Hawaii and Guam so it's probably being bounced off from one of the U.S' stations there. And three- if Heim and Jamie are really our allies and we're stuck here for a few weeks, Sam and I are going to put you through some NCIS training like Geography 101. "

"Ok, that's cool….wait, we're _how _far away from Samoa?" Deeks exclaimed. He limped over to a spot on the carpet in the living room and sat down.

"557 miles to be exact," Kensi replied.

Callen walked over and sat next to her on the couch. "And to make matters worse, all three places have military bases, predominantly Navy. "

"It's not all bad," Sam commented, " We're technically considered to be 8000 miles away from Los Angeles. Granger probably still thinks we're somewhere in Algeria or one of its neighbor countries."

"So you- we think that Heim and Jamie might be setting us up?" Deeks asked.

"It's just that this whole thing is curious," Callen stated, " We were barely getting by until two days ago. I'm curious about our luck like why they dropped us here. We could have been dropped off in some tiny village in Russia, where no one will look."

Sam sighed. "If you were looking for us, would you look in Tonga?"

"No, but if we get made, the Navy will be here in less than a heartbeat."

"Callen's right," Deeks said, "Now that I think about this, we got through this so easily. I mean I flew through India, got medical treatment, and flew out without a problem." The mention of his medical treatment made Deeks unconsciously scratch his leg.

"Me too," Kensi said. " I flew into Mali and Fiji in a breeze."

"Well, let's make this simple, guys. Let's run a background on them," Sam suggested.

Kensi help up a hand. "I checked. There are no computers- just basic power and TV cables."

"So we have cable, but no internet. It shuts us off from doing any research," Sam muttered. "That ups my suspicion ten-fold."

"Are there any internet cafés close by?" Deeks asked in the midst of scratching a spot under his cast.

Kensi crossed his arms and glared at him. "Did you pay attention at all during the drive from the airport?"

"No, I was too busy recovering from my fifty different injuries and worrying about you!"

"Wait a minute….." Callen interrupted. He stared thoughtfully out the window before continuing, "There's a college nearby…..One of us- probably Kensi- should go down there and see if you can access their internet. Kensi, you'd get in and out quick before any suspicion is drawn."

Deeks cringed at the memory of his nightmare and the mental picture of Kensi being arrested that had just popped in his head. "No, there's got to be a different option."

"Kensi is the best out of all of us to fit in. Sam will go with her and watch her back. You can stay here, keep an eye on the news and get that leg healed. We need to be prepared in case someone does try and come to take us out. If this works, we can finally figure out who's really on our side and end this whole thing."

Deeks swallowed hard, thinking _And if it doesn't, we're all dead and it's on me._


	24. Chapter 24

"So how exactly are we going to do this?" the probationary agent asked. He tried to hardest not to show it, but deep down the man was panicking.

Kensi replied calmly, "I'll walk in undercover as a student, use a search- kill program that Eric created- you know, the one that deletes all traces of it when you're done with it- and then I'll get out. Sam will be my eyes."

"But you won't have any communication- Kensi, this is ridiculous!" Deeks protested. Callen looked between the two and stated, "Deeks, she can handle herself. You aren't acting out because you two are together, are you?"

Deeks glared at the lead agent, fuming. He looked to Kensi before sighing, "Fine. But remember- I don't like this at all."

"I know, but you have to keep it in check right now, ok?" Kensi said, "If this was any other case-"

"But this isn't a case! This is our lives!" Deeks exclaimed. He nodded his head in disbelief before turning on his heels and walking out of the room. Kensi swallowed hard before telling Callen and Sam, "Let's get this over and done with."

**Beaulah College, Malapo, Tonga**

An hour later, Sam crawled into a small ditch in front of a forest behind the college. He had his binoculars in one hand to keep an eye on Kensi, who was walking up the street with a crowd of female college students. He had a takedown rifle set up next to him, just in case things got hairy. He hoped like hell wouldn't have to use it.

Sam wiped his brow just as Kensi and the college students walked onto campus. The college girls broke off into groups, all eagerly chatting with their friends. Kensi kept to herself and walked straight across the courtyard, pretending to look at a book. No one seemed to give her a second glance. In the field, Sam watched the junior agent walk into the central building and out of sight.

"Come on, Kens. Make this fast," Sam whispered. He went into prone position and began scanning the field and courtyard while waiting. The heat was also trying Sam's patience by making it humid as time went on. When Kensi reemerged from the building fifteen minutes later, the ex-SEAL was drenched in sweat. He watched the agent walk behind the library with her head down and approach the dirt trail that passed his position.

"Don't get stopped, don't get stopped," Sam repeated under his breath. He watched Kensi start up the trail towards him before soon kneeling on the ground next to him.

"Anyone follow me?" she asked out of breath.

"No, you're good. Nice work. Did you get anything?" Sam commented.

Kensi held up to folded pieces of printer paper. "I got something good. Let's head back."

**Safe House**

"_Touch Agent Hanna, Callen, or the two little runts back in LA? Too late," Granger snarled. As Deeks fidgeted while furious, Granger kneeled next to him and whispered, "And it's all because of you."_

Deeks jolted awake when he heard the echo of Granger's voice from his nightmare. He had dozed off in what he had dubbed "The Think Tank Room". The room was filled with books floor to ceiling and had large brown armchairs in every corner of the room. It was a perfect spot for someone who needed five minutes alone.

"Deeks!" He heard from the living room downstairs. The blonde haired agent lifted his injured leg off of the arm of the chair and stood up. It was Kensi, which made him feel partially relieved. His partner's tone was still nerve wracking.

When he made it downstairs, Deeks found Kensi, Callen, and Sam sitting around an island table. Kensi ran up to Deeks at first sight and pulled him into a kiss. She then pulled Deeks over to the island and exclaimed, "We have to talk."

Kensi took a second to catch her breath before unfolding a printer paper. It was a printed article from the NCIS database.

"The government isn't looking for us for treason," Kensi began. Deeks looked over her shoulder to see four headshots of each team member. "Granger is feeding the DOD a crap full of lies. They think that codes that Deeks found are something much more important than a bunch of codes for an NCIS project. So to say that we're on everyone's hit list with Deeks being on the top of it is a bloody understatement."

"Did you find anything on Heim and Jamie?" Callen asked. The junior agent nodded and pulled out another printed paper. On the front of the sheet were Heim and Jamie's NATO photos.

"Yeah, it's curious," Kensi answered.

Callen took the sheet from Kensi, quickly read it out over and nodded. "That _is_ curious."

"Can we all stop using the Hetty like response and share with the class about what's on the paper?" Deeks snapped, more irritable then he had intended. The older agents looked at him in disbelief at his tone. Deeks grumbled, "Please."

"Jamie and Heim are old friends of Hetty's by the looks of it," Callen said. He handed the sheet over to Sam, which made the probationary agent more annoyed. "They crossed paths in Kosovo and Romania around the time my mother was killed."

"Both men have excellent records until the War in Iraq," Kensi said, "The government thinks that both men took major bribes from Sadam. We don't know if that's true, but it explains why they already had a price on their heads before meeting us."

"So we're calling them allies?" Deeks asked.

"For now," Sam replied. "If we had more access to the Internet, I'd say we should run a full background on them, but since we can't, we have to trust them. At most we can make sure that the house is secure."

"So that's it?" Deeks asked, shocked. A consensus look among the older agents answered his question. _That's it. For now._


	25. Chapter 25

**Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center- One Month Later**

_I'm in a federal prison._

Nell Jones winced at the thought that had never left her mind since being incarcerated for 'aiding and abetting individuals guilty of treason' a month ago. She sat in a small jail cell, usually reserved for the most dangerous criminals. Granger had found a way to manipulate the warden into putting her there to cut her off from Hetty and Eric, who were also incarcerated at LA's MDC , and from the outside world.

And that wasn't the worse part.

At least once a week, an agent working under Granger's orders would come and try to 'persuade' her to give up the wareabouts of her team. Not once did she spill, mainly because she really did have no idea where the team was.

"Knock, knock," Nell suddenly heard as her jail cell opened for the first time in days. A man Nell had hated and despised for the last six weeks stepped into the room- George Lyons. The Interpol agent closed the door behind him and smiled at Nell.

"You son of a bitch…" Nell growled.

"I thought you had better manners," Lyons laughed. Nell lunged towards Lyons, regretting her actions the moment she left her bed. Lyons caught her and through her against the wall. Nell slid down to the ground and looked up to Lyons.

"Asshole," Nell growled. She usually didn't curse, but one month alone in a cell changed that.

"You're feisty. I like it," Lyons commented. He started to pace between the cell door and the back wall. " You seem to be…._handling _federal prison much better than your counterpart."

_Eric! _"What have you done to him?"

"Nothing…nothing that a few hours with our head interrogator couldn't handle." Lyons smiled at Nell's whimper.

"Why are you doing this? All of it? Is this all about some stupid codes Deeks found?" Nell yelled.

Lyons pulled out a cloth case from his suit pocket. As he poured the contents of the case onto Nell's bed, he said, " As you figured out, I've been helping Granger sell out NCIS for a while now to any buyer from any country who wants dirt on the US and we were doing just fine until that damn surfer found those codes. Why do you think Granger sent me on the trip in the first place? To evaluate the team?"

Nell pulled herself onto her feet, keeping a close eye on the items on her bed. "No, we figured that you were trying to cover up something."

"Well, great job at trying to stop us," Lyons said sarcastically, "Your team is probably hiding in some ditch in the middle of nowhere. And before you whine and complain about not saying a word, remember that I have the entire world searching. It's amazing how much faster a hunt is when you have the US government and all of its allies on your side. Don't worry, Miss Jones, we'll catch them in no time. Now for you," Lyons turned to Nell with the pliers in one hand, "Let's see if we can get you to talk."

**Safe House- Tonga**

"Oooff- jeez, Sam, are you trying to kill me?"

Deeks was lying on his back in front of Sam, who was smirking at the probationary agent. Both men were sparring as a part of training Deeks during their waiting period. There had been no word of Jamie or Heim in a month, not in the local newspapers or news channel. In the meantime, Deeks, Kensi, Sam, and Callen had spent the time cooped up in the house doing whatever they could to keep preoccupied. Deeks had spent the time recuperating, training, and bonding with his new girlfriend. Sam had spent the month trying to create a game plan with Callen or like today, flipping Deeks over onto a makeshift mat, made of cardboard, pillow stuffing, and leaves. The only thing that had changed for the four agents was their physical appearance- Deeks and Callen had scruffier beards and longer hair and Sam slowly begin to grow out his hair. Kensi had cut her hair into a bob.

"No, I'm trying to teach you," the ex- SEAL replied. He walked around the edge of the mat as Deeks sat up and placed his hands on his knees. Deeks rubbed his leg and glared at Sam.

"No, I think you're trying to break my leg again," Deeks stretched his back and added, "And my arms, and my back, and my foot…."

"I thought you said that you were ok to spar today," Sam asked. He sat down next to Deeks on the mat. "We can't have you limping around if we get made."

"_If _we get made. It's been a month, Sam," Deeks sighed. "We're stuck here forever-"

"Actually not," both men heard from the top of the stairs. It was Callen, who had just opened the basement door. Callen had spent the month being the monitor for the house by keeping an eye on food, protecting the house, and helping Deeks learn French.

"What do you mean?" Deeks asked while standing up.

"We're out of food, which means if we're going to stay here, we need to head into town," Callen replied.

"I knew my spidey senses were trying to tell me something this morning," Deeks exclaimed. Sam rolled his eyes and commented, "You and Kensi are becoming too much for me. You two are already gross and lovey-dovey and now you're sharing a love for food?"

"First thing first, I always loved food. Second, you shouldn't have walked into our bedroom last week-"

"Guys," Callen interrupted. " Let's get Kensi and figure this out or we'll starve."

"Or Fern and I will just eat you- Kensi!" Deeks called out and heard no answer. He narrowed his eyes in confusion and repeated, "Kensi!"

No answer.

Deeks sprinted up the stairs ahead of Callen and Sam. At the top of the stairs Deeks spotted Kensi sitting on the couch in the living room. She was sitting cross legged with her hands covering her mouth. The television was set on CNN, where Deeks could recognize a news report being done live from the Los Angeles County Courthouse.

"Kens…..what's wrong?" Deeks asked. His partner nervously looked to Deeks and answered, "It's a breaking news report….and it's about Nell."


	26. Chapter 26

"Wha- wha- what do you mean?" Deeks stammered. He slowly sat down next to Kensi, praying that it wasn't what he thought she meant.

Kensi placed her hands in her lap and replied, "She-um- the reporter said that on behalf of Assistant Director Granger, Nell is going to give a statement about us. That sick bastard is going to use her to guilt us into coming home! "

"Guys, it's starting," Callen interrupted as he stepped behind the couch with Sam. Kensi turned up the television volume just as Nell appeared on screen. The intelligence analyst walked up towards a podium and her appearance shocked each agent in the room. Nell had bruises on her face, arms, and legs. Her skin was pale and she looked as if she hadn't eaten in a week.

"My name is Nell Jones," Nell stammered, "And I-uh- am here to plead for Agents Deeks, Blye, Hanna, and Callen to turn themselves in." A burning rage built up in Deeks as he watched Nell look down and wipe away a tear.

"You are endangering hundreds of millions of lives," Nell continued. She paused to collect herself, "You know what you did and the implications of your actions. As your friend, I am begging you to come home. Please."

"I'll kill him," Deeks suddenly spoke up from his spot next to Kensi, "Granger- I'll kill him. Lyons and Pendle too."

"Join the club," Sam growled. Callen turned away and walked into the foyer, silently fuming. Nell was considered to be the precious one on the team, even though she liked monster car racing and carried a gun. As the team leader, Callen felt every bit responsible for every team member and watching Nell without being able to help was killing him.

"Shh!" he heard from Kensi.

"The longer you all wait, the worse the consequences," Nell stated. A tear ran down her cheek, which broke each agent's heart. "If you come forward now in the form of a phone call or in person, Assistant Director Granger assures me that there will be a leniency in your punishment. Thank you." The team watched Nell being led away from the podium by Granger and two Los Angeles police officers.

"Leniency? What are they going to do- welcome us with open arms before locking us up or shooting us?" Callen snorted after Kensi muted the television.

Kensi stood up and turned to Callen and Sam. "What do we do? We can't just sit here- we need to help Nell!"

"We can't just walk into NCIS and demand that they release Nell, Eric, and Hetty," Sam stated. He ignored Kensi's glare directed at him. He knew she was right, but the logistics couldn't be ignored. "Kensi, we're on every hit list around the world. The chance of us getting into LA, let alone on a US bound plane is slim to none."

"But a month has passed, Sam! Yeah, we're on a million watch list, but I think we need to take a chance for Nell's life!" Kensi yelled. Callen stepped in between the two arguing agents, taking note of Deeks who was sitting quietly on the couch. Callen decided to deal with Deeks later and Kensi and Sam right now.

"Ok, let's take going home as a hypothetical situation right now," Callen said, "We would need to figure out how we're going to leave Tonga in the first place. If we were to try and sneak onto a plane, which airline would we take?"

"You actually aren't considering this, are you, G?" Sam asked.

"Just run with me for a sec. What flights leave the capital?"

"Air New Zealand and Air Pacific, "Kensi answered quickly. She ignored the stares and added, "Air Pacific can take us straight to Los Angeles."

"Did you memorize their itinerary on the way here?" Callen asked. Kensi shrugged. "I was bored while waiting in Fiji."

Callen smirked at Kensi's statement. "Ok. Besides flying us right into the lion's den, where else does Air Pacific fly?"

"All over the United States, Canada-"

"Canada? Uh-uh-I don't like being that close," Sam muttered. He walked over to the window where he could see the sun slowly setting miles away. "Plus, it would be stupid if Kensi and Deeks being that close to the US."

Kensi cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

Sam turned towards the other three agents. "If we did this, you and Deeks can't enter the US under any circumstances. Deeks is the prime target and you, Kensi, are the only thing that could be used as leverage to get Deeks to come back to LA if you were to be captured."

Kensi glanced over to Deeks, who was still in the same spot on the couch. His eyes had a shell shocked appearance; it was the same way it had been when he had found out that she would be the one going to the college a month ago.

"Marty?" she called out.

Deeks slowly shook his head in response and whispered, "I can't- no way that I can let any of you do this. I found the codes and Granger is after me! None of you can expect me to fly into Canada, chill with Kens in the mountains while Callen and Sam run into LA, try to help Nell, and very likely get captured!"

"This is just hypothetical," Callen assured. Deeks stood up and mumbled, "Excuse me," before quickly leaving the room. Deeks ran up the stairs towards the "Think Tank Room," and plopped down on one of the soft, red couches. He placed his head in his hands and inhaled deeply, remembering the nightmare he had when they had first come to the safe house. After everything they went through, Deeks couldn't have Callen and Sam take a fall for something he had done. The probationary agent was already struggling with the guilt of Hetty, Eric, and especially now, Nell being in prison.

He couldn't lose anyone else.

And with that in mind, Deeks did something he hadn't done in months.

He cried.


	27. Chapter 27

Seven minutes later, Deeks wiped away the tears from his eyes and his cheek. He was still sitting in the "think tank room" where he had finally let out all his emotions and cried. It had helped him feel a little better, but hadn't helped get rid of the guilt running through his veins. No one had come to check on him since he had walked out of the kitchen, something a bit surprising to the new agent. The last time Deeks had gotten so upset and walked away from the group, he had run off, knowing well that he had a target on his back, all the way to Algeria alone. In all honesty, Deeks was surprised that his partner hadn't handcuffed him to the bed as a precaution.

"I'm so sorry, Nell," Deeks whispered. He was trying so hard to not also think of Eric and any forms of torture that he might have endured. There was no doubt in Deeks' mind that Hetty would be perfectly fine with anything Granger threw her way. "I'm so sorry."

"You aren't thinking about running away again, are you?"

Deeks looked up to see Callen leaning against the doorframe.

"No…I, uhm, am thinking about what Hetty, Eric, and Nell are going through right now," Deeks replied, his voice wavering, "Nell…..I keep picturing Granger or one of his goons torturing her-"

"You can't focus on that right now, Deeks. You need to focus on how we're going to get into the US without getting arrested or killed," Callen walked across the room and sat by Deeks.

The younger agent took a moment to admire the lead agent's composure before asking, "How do you do it? How do hold it together when someone's life is on the line because of you?"

Callen thought back to the team's trip to Romania and Hetty's shooting. "Every time that you, Sam or Kensi get in trouble, I struggle keeping my emotions in check. Don't think for just a second I had it together when we went to Romania. Every time gunfire went off, I was scared that one of you could have been killed because of me. Like I said earlier, you have to focus on the main goal and not your emotions. We need to help our people back home and end this."

Deeks nodded in content. "So we're doing this? We're actually going to try and fly into the US?"

"Yes. I just came up with an idea of how we could do it. It's beyond crazy, but crazy enough to work. And before you say it, no- you wouldn't have to cut your hair."

Deeks sighed in relief before looking over to Callen in curiosity. "How crazy are we talking?"

"It might be our craziest idea yet."

**Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center- 3 Days later**

Granger sat across from Hetty in Interrogation room #2C at the detention center. For the past month, he had visited Hetty every day to try and get her to talk. And as expected, the ex-OPS manager would quietly sit and only answer unrelated questions in a polite manner during every visit. Today, Granger was hoping that a new tactic of showing pictures of an injured Eric and Nell would help change her mind. The ex- OPS manager didn't flinch when Granger placed three pictures- one of Nell, one of Eric, and one of the house in Algeria- onto the table.

"Where are they?" Granger asked, struggling to keep his composure. He wanted to nearly strangle Hetty for not giving up any details and for keeping such a stoic face during a time where he was getting desperate.

"My answer is the same as it has always been- I don't know," Hetty replied.

Granger jammed a finger against the picture of the house in Algeria. "8 weeks. We've been at this for 8 weeks, Henrietta. How long do you think they can last out there?"

"As long as needed. I taught them how to survive and how to be the best there is."

Granger moved his finger towards the pictures of Nell and Eric. "What about them? They keep saying that they don't know, but I think that they're lying, just like you."

Hetty glanced down towards the photos, her face expressionless. She pushed the photos back across the table and stated, "You won't catch them, Owen."

"What makes you so sure about that? I-"A loud knock from the door interrupted Granger mid- sentence. He looked over his shoulder to see a red headed agent peek his head in and say, "Sir, a word? It's important."

"What is it?"

"It's about those missing agents," the agent stammered.

_Excellent. _"Just say what you need to say," Granger said. He shifted his position in the chair so he could still see at the agent and also monitor Hetty for any sign of any emotions.

The agent scratched his head before saying, "Sir, there was a call that just came in from the TSA at Los Angeles International Airport. The TSA's attention was caught after someone thought a passport photo found on a manifest from Air Pacific flight #273 looked like Agent Blye. They ran it through facial recognition and it came back to be a match. A little more digging found that Agent Hanna, Callen, and Deeks are on the same plane. They're wearing disguises, sir. Also, the flight should be landing within the hour."

Granger's eyes widened as he felt a nervous excitement rise in him. "Did you tell air traffic controllers to ground the plane when it lands?"

"Yes, sir. It'll sit on the tarmac and be monitored to eliminate any chances of escape."

"Good. Call TSA and tell them that I'll be on my way." Granger collected the photos and grinned maliciously at Hetty. "Guess you didn't train them as well as you thought. We got them."

When Hetty gave no emotional response, Granger told himself, _Ignore it. She won't give me the satisfaction. _

**Los Angeles International Airport- Tarmac 2C**

A herd of 12 LAPD cars and three NCIS-issued SUVs sped towards Tarmac 2C where a white 254 passenger Air Pacific jumbo jet sat alone on the tarmac. TSA had already prepped a ramp stairwell for law enforcement to enter the plane. Two airport security cars were parked at the bottom of the stairs to make sure that none of the agents would try to make a run for it.

Granger drove in the lead vehicle alone. He was grinning, feeling his heart race faster during every second that he came closer to the airplane. The man wanted one thing more than arresting the four agents- he prayed that one of them would try and do something stupid, giving NCIS free range to take each of them out, including the annoying ex-cop.

Once he reached the plane, Granger slammed on the breaks, creating a loud screeching noise. He jumped out of the front seat and sprinted towards the ramp stairs, not caring that he had left his SUV running. Granger bolted up the stairs as the rest of the NCIS and LAPD officials got out of their cars. In the cabin, Granger took the opportunity to dial someone who would enjoy the news just as much as he did- George Lyons.

For the past month, Lyons had been hunting down those four agents as far as Interpol knew. In reality, Lyons was keeping Pendle from falling under any suspicious eyes and was also selling classified information to insurgents in Syria. The last time both men spoke was right after the team had disappeared from Algeria.

Lyons answered after the first ring. "This better be life or death, Granger."

"We got them. They tried to fly into LAX on a flight from Tonga," Granger said excitedly. He pulled the phone away from his ear to ask a blonde flight attendant, "Where are they?"

"Seats 35A, 30C, 25D, and 27B," the attendant squeaked. Granger drew his weapon and started the trek towards the back of the plane.

On the other end of the line, Lyons paused before giving a slightly less enthusiastic response, "Owen, we've been after these guys for almost 2 months now. You really think they'd be dumb enough to try in fly in undetected?"

"It's been done before."

"I don't buy it," Lyons growled, "I don't buy it. After all the stories I've heard about Henrietta Lange and her agents, I think she'd train them better than that, Deeks included."

"Well, it's-"Granger dropped his jaw at what was supposed to Deeks, Hanna, Callen, and Blye sitting in the four seats. Instead, four Asian Pacifiers- three young men and a pregnant women staring wide eyed at Granger. The assistant director gasped before he roared, "This isn't them. Where the hell are they?"


	28. Chapter 28

**NCIS Ops Center**

Granger stood in front of the operations tabletop as two intelligence analysts furiously clicked away on their keyboards as they searched for the missing agents. The assistant director was still fuming and in all honesty, embarrassed at what had happened at LAX. Four non- English speaking Tongan was the only tangible evidence of the missing agents. However, if someone didn't find the agents ASAP, he was going to pull out his gun and make the count of four Tongans down to 0.

"Any day now would be nice," Granger growled. One of the analysts, a tall Arabic woman turned in her seat with her tablet in hand. In seconds, the woman pulled up the passports of the four Tongan on the big screen.

The fearful analyst stammered, "Sir-sir, if you look and see-"

"I don't want a damn electronics or history lesson, you idiots," Granger exploded, "I want to know how and where the hell Hanna, Callen, Deeks, and Blye are. And it better be soon….real soon."

The female analyst was beginning to sniffle. "But-but-but, I have to tell you something-"

"WHAT?" Granger roared. The female analyst's trembled and the woman began to cry. Granger rolled his eyes and reached out to take the tablet, but was stopped by the other analyst, a dark haired man, who jumped in between of the crying analyst and the homicidal Granger.

The male analyst stated as loud as he could, "Sir, we found video of how they did it. Now if you look the screen, "he pulled up the video onto the flat screen, "Both groups check into two separate flights that were leaving from the same terminal. The Tongans were signed up to take an Air New Zealand flight while as the agents, as you know were on, the Air Pacific flight."

Granger narrowed his eyes in anger when the male analyst took a long pause. "And?"

"And- um," the male analyst swallowed and continued, "One of the agents and one of the Tongans that you arrested went to both the Air New Zealand and Air Pacific gates, talk to the gate attendant and then they….go…on each other's flights."

"You've got to be freaking kidding me!" Granger yelled. He walked over to the flat screen and jammed his finger over a picture of the disguised agents walking onto the Air New Zealand flight. "Where did this flight go?"

Both analysts darted over to the computer and started searching for the flight itinerary. Less than a minute later, the female analyst unintentionally raised her hand, but dropped at Granger's glare.

"The Air New Zealand flight went to Shanghai where we lose them, sir," she stammered.

"So they could be anywhere from Shanghai-"

The female didn't want to say the words that everyone was already thinking, but had no choice. "To the United States. It's been days, sir. The agents might be here in the States."

**Interstate 90- 46 miles south of Seattle, Washington**

A red Greyhound bus on its way to Las Vegas coasted down the interstate under a clear night sky. Passengers on the bus were mostly asleep; most falling asleep to the song of _You only wanna dance_ that was playing through the speakers. Only three passengers were awake- a young teenage girl traveling to Las Vegas to follow her dreams, an older gentleman returning home from a business trip, and the quiet passenger sitting in the back of the bus, none other than G. Callen.

The blue eyed, who was actually wearing a green contacts, sat alone in a college sweatshirt, a dark blue baseball cap, and light blue jeans. He also wore headphones that only made it seem like he was listening to music. The plan was for him to ride the bus to Carson City, Nevada and then somehow get to a very small town called Goldfield in Nevada to meet his teammates. Goldfield would get them seven hours outside of Los Angeles.

His plan to get the team out of Tonga had so far gone off surprisingly well. The hardest thing wasn't finding four people to help make the switch; the hardest thing was creating multiple passports to help each agent fly through different countries to make it back to the States. Because the Air Pacific flight that they were supposed to be on took longer than usual to get to Los Angeles, Callen had been able to fly in straight from Shanghai hours before the Air Pacific flight landed. Kensi and Deeks were supposed to land only an hour ahead of the Air Pacific flight into New Mexico while Sam had to fly into Western Nevada on a flight that landed an hour after the Air Pacific flight.

Callen shifted in his seat when the bus hit a small bump in the road. The lead agent was exhausted and very on edge even though he was on a bus in the middle of nowhere. No news on his teammates, on the switch at the airport and even on the welfare of Hetty, Eric, and Nell. Callen began to tap his foot lightly at the thought of Deeks. Right before everyone had gone their separate ways at the airport, they had all given their goodbyes. Callen had hugged Sam, Deeks and Kensi and reflected on the five years that they had known each other. With Deeks, there was a small difference- Callen had left feeling guilty for not bonding as much with the probationary agent. Deeks was such a different personality that it made it hard.

Callen closed his eyes and made a mental promise to bond more with Deeks _if _they were able to continue their luck. When Callen reopened his eyes, he saw an iPad sitting on the lap of a teenage girl, who was sitting across from the agent. On the top of the screen, Callen could see the small letters '3G', which meant that she had access to the internet, which could get him access to the news. _I need to know if Granger figured out about the flight switch, _Callen thought. He sat up just as he noticed that the teenager girl was staring at him with a smile.

"You're cute," the teenage girl said, her cheeks blushing a bright red.

Callen mustered up a smile and replied hesitantly, "Thanks. Um…What's your name?" in a deep Boston accent.

"Kate. Yours?"

Callen thought back to his cover story for flying into the States. "I'm Matthew Nicholson. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Kate brushed her hair behind her ear and giggled. Callen decided to use the girl's crush on him to his advantage. "Hey, Kate. Does your iPad have Wi-Fi?"

Kate nodded her head and held out the tablet towards Callen. "Yes, it is- I got the 3G during Black Friday and-and my dad actually gave it to me for my birthday. Isn't it nice? Look, the Facebook app-"

Callen's patience began to run thin. "Yes it is, but Kate- I just got back into the States after touring Zimbabwe for the Peace Corps and I hadn't been able to access the internet or even a United States newspaper in months. Do you mind if I just check the New York Times for just a second?"

Kate pushed back another strand of hair behind her, trying her hardest not to giggle like a school girl. "Oh wow….Peace Corps….Alright, do you promise to give it back?"

Callen held up a hand. "Scout's honor."

Kate passed the iPad over to Callen, who scooted over towards her to receive it. Callen quickly pulled up the web application Safari and pulled up the New York Times website. The headline on the front page made him nearly drop the iPad. He had been so sure that the team's plan to get back in the States had gone so well.

Apparently it hadn't.

The front page headline read- **Navy Criminal Investigation Services Agent Arrested**


	29. Chapter 29

**Interstate 90- 46 miles south of Seattle, Washington**

"Matthew?"

No answer.

"Matthew?"

Callen looked up at the second call of his cover name. Kate was sitting right next to him, worryingly staring at the agent. Callen was in such a state of shock at the news headline that it was as if he had become petrified. He had never reacted to anything like this in his many years as an agent, but then again, he had never had so much on the line at one time. The agent couldn't shake out of his daze until Kate began to slowly wave her hand in front of his face.

"Yoo-hoo!" the teenager sang. "You still in there, Matthew?"

Callen blinked nervously and stammered, "Ah, yeah. Sorry about that- did you say something?"

"Yeah! You looked like you saw a ghost after I gave you my iPad. Are you ok?" Kate asked. Callen looked down to the iPad screen and back up to Kate. The teenager was batting her eye lashes in ways that Callen thought that she was one step shy of hugging him. _This girl is attaching to me way too quickly_, he thought. _We have to shut this down. _

Callen looked back down to the iPad and scanned the article as fast as he could. When he finished, Callen handed the tablet back over to Kate and mumbled, "I'm ok. Thanks for that."

"You sure?"

Callen nodded and scooted back over to the window. He held up a hand before Kate seconds before he could see Kate reaching to grab her stuff to come sit with him. "I'm actually going to get some rest, Kate. I'll talk to you later."

Kate nodded her head quickly and curled up in her seat with the iPad. Callen took her distraction as a relief and decided that he needed to run through everything in his head. He slipped on headphones to make it seem as if he were listening to music. He then closed his eyes and leaned his head against the window to think about what he had learned from the article.

_Unnamed NCIS agent _

_Arrested at unnamed airport_

_Quick arrest _

_No witnesses_

_NCIS plans to bring justice_

_Overall, little to no details, which barely gives me anything to go on. Let's go through some scenarios_

Callen started with the worst case scenario- If Deeks had been arrested, Granger wouldn't be so secretive about it. The assistant director would be on every talk show, news station, or even a street corner to brag about catching the agent who had 'committed treason'. The agent began to worry until he remembered that Kensi and Deeks were traveling together and that the news had said only one agent had been arrested.

That left Sam.

* * *

><p><strong>Flagstaff, Arizona<strong>

Kensi was a complete mess.

After flying into New Mexico with Deeks a few hours ago, both agents had boarded a bus that would take them to their final destination in Goldfield, Nevada. Their flight was so smooth and easy that both agents had been able to let their guard down a little, which led to continuous flirting, Deeks ranting about the end of the world, and Kensi trying her hardest not to strangle her rambling partner. Getting on the bus was easy and it had looked like a simple 12 hour bus ride until they reached Flagstaff, Arizona.

The bus pulled up for a 2 hour lunch break at a plaza that had been filled with shoppers, police cars, and FBI SUVs. On the fly, both agents had decided to get off the bus and stay out of sight until the bus would leave again. There was no doubt in either agent's minds that their pictures had been sent to every law enforcement agency in the country.

The agents separated at the bus stop and planned to meet in the library next to the plaza ten minutes before they were supposed to leave on the bus. On her way to the library, Kensi had stepped into a gas station buy a few snacks for the road. When she had gone to pay, she had heard the news about the arrested agent for the first time. Her first thought had gone to Sam or Callen, but the presence of FBI made Kensi begin to worry if Deeks being out in public would put him in danger of being arrested.

_Oh crap. Oh crap! _Kensi silently panicked as she walked up the steps of the library at the set meeting time. A woman in a FBI jacket was standing at the top of the stairs with a Flagstaff police officer. With her eyes hidden behind the Chicago Bears hat she wore, Kensi quickly sat down on the stairs and pulled out a book she had grabbed before running off to Algeria. Her heart was racing out of control as she listened in on the FBI agent and officer's conversation.

"There's no way that Hermain is going to hide in a library."

"You never know."

Kensi flipped through the pages of the book quickly. She took the mention of Hermian, a drug dealer that was terrorizing cities in the Southwest, to be an indicator that the FBI wasn't in town for the agents. _Sounds like Deeks and I are ok!_

"Hermian isn't gonna do anything in Flagstaff."

"Well, you know it wasn't my decision. Frequent sightings have my boss on edge. That's why the FBI's here."

"I know. Hell, if I were you, I'd rather be out hunting down those agents than waiting around for some punk."

"Yep, at the rate and speed NCIS is going at, there might not be any agents out there by the time we're done with this. I saw a picture of the agent from my boss- the guy they caught is big. Like body builder big."

It was confirmed- Sam was in custody.

Kensi felt her heart drop and glanced down to her watch. There was 2 minutes left before Deeks was supposed to show. _Come on, Deeks. Now's not the time to be right on time or late….._


	30. Chapter 30

**Flagstaff, Arizona**

Deeks was sure that Kensi was going to kill him.

When the bus had pulled up to the bus depot and he and Kensi had spilt ways, the probationary agent had wandered off towards a local coffee shop to grab a newspaper, some snacks, and a cup of coffee for the road. Deeks had barely made it through the coffee shop doors before he saw the news report on Sam's arrest.

Now he was running late to their meeting spot in front of the Flagstaff public library. The news report had put him into a state of numbness to where he had lost track of time. _If I'm late,_ Deeks thought as he sped walked down Hunt Drive to where the library stood; _Kensi will kick my ass all the way to Goldfield. _

When Deeks reached the block adjacent to the library front entrance, he stopped in his tracks abruptly and spilled coffee all over his shirt. Deeks saw an FBI agent and a Flagstaff police officer standing at the top of the front steps, not too far away from where Kensi sat. His partner was nervously shaking her leg and switching between pretending to read a book and checking her watch. Deeks held up a hand, praying that his partner would look up and see him.

She didn't.

_Come on, Kens. Please don't make me do this. _Deeks jogged across the street and mustered up the best southern accent that he could to put on to fool the cop and agent.

"Kayla, there you are!" Deeks called out, "We got a bus to catch, babe!"

Kensi looked up and sighed in relief at the sight of her partner. The agent immediately caught on to her partner's ruse and stood up. "Well, I was waiting for you."

Deeks wrapped an arm around Kensi's hip before they started walking towards the bus stop. Kensi stole a quick glance over her shoulder to see if the cop and agent were watching them. Luckily, both were looking at a tablet, most likely about the drug dealer.

"That was close," Deeks muttered when they were out of earshot range. Kensi nodded and growled, "Where the hell were you?"

"I was only a minute late, Kensi. Maybe two. Let's just get on the bus, out of sight and then we can argue about this."

"Fine,"

Kensi looked over her shoulder again to double check on the agent and the cop. "Let's just hope that things still go according to plan," she said, "not only for our sake, but for Sam's as well."

**Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center**

Sam Hanna wasn't the man to outwardly panic in tough situations.

He was a Navy SEAL after all, and SEALs were all taught to adapt to all types of scenarios in the most dangerous parts of the world. If a SEAL were ever to be caught, whether mid battle or while in stealth, he had to hold it together, no matter what kind of threats or 'forceful coercions' like waterboarding that he got. The situation that Sam was in wasn't like the one he had been in Bosnia, but the stakes were similar in many ways. National security and his team's well-being were on the line.

It had been hours since he had been arrested at Silver Springs Airport in Silver Springs, Nevada. Sam was set to be the closest out of the group to Goldfield, Nevada and had been the first to arrive in the States. The plan was for him to set up a safe house, stock up any non-essential item that had been left back in Tonga, and get as much news as he could about Hetty, Eric, and Nell. Sam had been able to make it out the terminal before the plan failed. An old SEAL trainee of his had recognized him in the middle of a crowd of passengers.

"_Sam? Sam Hanna? Is that you? What the hell, man- you're all over the news!"_

The moment the trainee had blatantly called out his name, Sam knew he was done. Within minutes, the airport's security and the entire town's police department had arrived on scene and were soon followed by the FBI and NCIS. The worst part of being arrested was watching the trainee give him a sorrowful frown; it made Sam want to slap him for it.

Now Sam sat handcuffed to a chair in a small 8X12 room in Los Angeles. It was a cold and in the SEAL's opinion, slimy room to be stuck in. Water droplets had continuously fallen from the ceiling in the corner to the ground for hours and it was starting to create a smell. The _pitter- patter_ of the droplets was also beginning to run Sam's nerves raw. He was pretty sure it was worse than the time that Deeks had started drumming against the steering wheel for almost an hour straight during a stakeout.

"Agent Hanna, you've been missed."

Sam looked up to the doorway where Granger had opened the door and stepped into the room. The assistant director looked like a kid in a candy store.

"I've been gone for almost three months, Granger. You missed me that much that you had to put me on the watch list?" Sam replied smugly. Granger snorted and started to walk around the chair Sam was sitting in.

"Don't kid yourself, Sam. You and I need to have a talk about those codes."

"Still claiming innocence?" Sam smirked. His response earned him a punch in the jaw.

"I don't have to put on any kind of show here. It's just you and me," Granger stated. He growled in annoyance when Sam spit out blood onto his dress pants. The agent lifted his head and grinned just in time to be smacked in the face a second time.

"You think this is a game?" Granger roared. He pulled over a chair and snarled, "This is me playing nice, Agent Hanna. You should be thankful that I didn't order a hit on your team! And don't even get me started on your wife…."

The training as a SEAL kicked in and Sam didn't flinch. Granger sat down and leaned in close to Sam.

"Do you know what your girls were doing last night?" Granger asked maliciously. "I believe it was School Achievement Awards day and oops- Daddy wasn't there 'cause- what exactly did you tell them?"

Sam continued to hold himself together. "Leave my girls and Quinn out of it," he replied calmly.

"How exactly are you going to stop me?" Granger chuckled, "You won't be able to even remember what fresh air feels like when I have you put in confinement for the rest of your life. That leaves me ample time to tell your little girls how their father's not on a trip, but rotting in jail for treason. Huh, I wonder how Quinn is going to be able to deal with that, especially after I destroy her life too…"

Sam swallowed hard at the memory of his last night with his family. A family dinner and game night was the last thing they had done before the team had found out that Deeks had gone to Algeria alone. Sam's family had known what he had gone to do and he knew that his wife would be able to handle that.

"Your threats are all nice and cute, Granger," Sam stated, "but my family is strong. I'm not going to tell you where Kensi, Callen, or Deeks are, no matter what you throw at me."

Granger smirked at Sam's words and said, "We'll see."


	31. Chapter 31

**Goldfield, Nevada**

"We made it," Deeks laughed as he and Kensi stepped off of the bus in Goldfield. He stretched out his arms and let out a loud yawn. For both of them, the remaining six hours of the trip had been miserable. Besides worrying about being recognized and arrested, both had to deal with annoying passengers like two crying toddlers and a middle agent man who decided to argue with his wife over the phone for two hours straight.

"I think torture would have been better than this bus ride," Kensi muttered, swinging her bag over her shoulder. Both walked over to the bus depot sign where they could see the main road of the city. Ten stores lined each side of the road, ranging from a Mom & Pop store to a Ruth's Dining Delight restaurant. Kensi enjoyed the sight because it was different- much calmer than their lives before going on the run.

"So how do we find the Big C?" Deeks asked, interrupting Kensi's thoughts. The scruffy haired agent was facing the direction of the stores and was scanning the crowds of individuals going up and down the streets.

"Are you talking about Callen?" Kensi whispered.

"Well, we can't use our real names so for now, so the Big C is what I think I'm going to call Callen," Deeks said. He pulled out a camera and aimed at a growing crowd near a hardware store. He zoomed in on the camera, hoping to spot Callen. As he continued to scan more crowds, Kensi pulled a map from Flagstaff and pretended to search for something.

"See him yet?" Kensi asked after five minutes.

Deeks shook his head no and pocketed his camera. "Not from here. Let's go for a walk, babe, and check things out." He put an arm around Kensi's shoulders, ignoring Kensi's glare towards him. They started walking down towards the city, hand-in-hand.

Deeks kept his gaze on the streets and soon spotted an unusual sight- a plastic turkey in a store front window.

"Uh…happy thanksgiving," Deeks said shakily. An elderly woman nearby raised an eyebrow making Deeks stammer, "Happy….future…thanksgiving?"

"Huh," the woman muttered before turning away. Kensi's eyes widened and she whispered loudly, "It's Thanksgiving already?"

"We've been gone for two months. It makes sense."

"True, true. It just feels a little unreal," Kensi sighed. Deeks peered into the store window and smiled. During the past two months, he hadn't even thought about anything from his life back in Los Angeles except for his loveable mutt, Monty. Thanksgiving or even Christmas hadn't even been a thought.

"Excuse me!" a familiar voice suddenly said behind them, "Do you know where I can find the closest motel?"

Deeks and Kensi turned around quickly to find none other than Callen. The older agent was wearing a red cap while holding onto a map with one hand and his backpack in his other. He pulled on his shades and grinned at the two agents. Deeks remembered the agreement that Callen had told the team before leaving Tonga.

"_When we get to Goldfield, I'll give you some indication about meeting me at a motel in town. It'll be direct, but remember to act like strangers."_

Deeks looked down at his own map and chose closest motel on the map. "Sante Fe Motel and Saloon is two blocks down. I hear that you can get a great view of the city from the second floor."

"Thanks," Callen replied. "I have to meet my friend Jones in two hours. He's a pretty private guy and I don't want to be late."

"Glad we could help," Kensi replied. Callen gave her a nod before walking off towards the Sante Fe motel. Deeks took a peek at the crowd before thinking, _Got it. Look for a room checked out by Mr. Jones at the Sante Fe Motel. Check for rooms with do not disturb signs first. _

Two hours after crossing paths with Callen, Kensi and Deeks walked down the second floor of the motel room looking for doors with a do not disturb sign. They had found and knocked on three doors already, meeting a woman who had snuck a cat into the room, a family of four, and a drug addict. Now at the end of the hallway, Deeks stood in front of the last door that had a do not disturb sign. Reluctantly, the agent took a breath and wrapped his knuckles against the door.

"Mr. Jones?" he called out. Behind him, Kensi looked down the hallway for any signs of someone coming. A minute of silence passed before the agents heard the sound of fumbling with the locks. The door quickly opened, revealing Callen, who said with a grin, "It's about time you two showed up."

"Nice to see you too," Deeks replied. He and Kensi walked into the room, Deeks dropping his bag on the floor. He walked over to the side of the room while Kensi turned to Callen.

"You made it," Kensi laughed, pulling Callen into a warm hug. Callen gave her a tight squeeze and pulled away to look over at Deeks. The probationary agent was facing the window, quiet as a mouse.

"You ok?" Callen called out. Deeks turned around and whispered, "I'm sorry about Sam."

"Deeks, this isn't your fault," Callen stated, "How we were able to get 3 out of the 4 of us into the country let alone travel to Goldfield is an accomplishment within its self. I don't blame you at all. We all knew what coming back here meant."

"I know. It's just…how exactly are we going to do this?" Deeks exclaimed, "I know I've been pretty cool about things, but right now, I'm panicking! How are we going to get into Los Angeles- scratch that, the state of California?"

Callen pointed over to the desk where Kensi and Deeks could see a silver car key.

"You got a car?!" Kensi exclaimed. "How-"

"And when, dude?" Deeks finished for her.

Callen walked over to the window and pointed to the 2010 Toyota Camry in the parking lot. "At the edge of town, I spotted a car rental place that looked edgy enough for me to try and get a car without any issues. When I walked in, the owner tried to persuade me to into some illegal gambling. In the end, we made a deal- I wouldn't call the police if the owner would let me use cash and no ID to rent a car, a nice one I might add, for a week. So we're going to drive as close as we can to LA before going through with a plan I made on the way here. It's crazy, but I think it'll work."

Deeks narrowed his eyes at Callen. "Really? Another crazy plan….seriously, is that a theme for you?"


	32. Chapter 32

**Shadow Beach, Los Angeles- 11pm**

NCIS Special Agent Hayden Kristopher jogged over the cool, wet sand on the shore of the popular beach. The sky was clear as could be with stars sparking down over the Pacific Ocean. The agent was jogging over to his car to head home for the night after an hour of late night surfing. He was tired and a little frustrated about how poor his surfing had gone. In his mind, it was due to the high stress that Assistant Director Owen Granger was putting on all the agents to find all of Hetty Lange's team.

"Damn it," Hayden cursed when he dropped his keys onto the ground after fumbling for them in his sports bag. He bent down and grabbed them, not noticing a shadow that had suddenly appeared behind him. When Hayden stood back up, the agent didn't have a second to even blink before he was pushed against the door of his car with his arm bent against his back.

"Don't move," Hayden heard. The voice didn't spark any fear; not because he was trained to deal with situations like this, but because he recognized to voice to be none other than Agent G Callen. Hayden smiled and grunted, "You guys are in LA? I knew it."

Callen didn't respond. Hayden shifted his head so that his face was away from the car door. "You don't have to be rough! I'm not going to call the police or NCIS- I swear."

Silence.

"You think if I wanted to, I'd let you take me like that?"

Finally, Callen spoke. "Please. You didn't even know that I was standing behind you," he said. Hayden rolled his eyes and grunted, "Let go of me."

"Fine." Callen released Hayden's arm and stepped away. Hayden could see that Callen was wearing a dark blue hoodie and looked completely different than he had ever looked before. Hayden was an old friend of Callen and worked out with him on regular basis.

"What the hell, man? You look…wow," Hayden gasped. Callen pocketed his hands and stared hard at Hayden.

"There's something I need you to help me with," Callen said slowly.

Hayden leaned back against the car after dropping his sports bag onto the floor. "Name it- I still owe you for Brasilia."

Callen smirked before his serious expression returned. "I need access to NCIS database- everything that's accumulated from the day that we went off to the military base at China Lake. We're back in the States to end all of this."

"All of us? Does that include the surfer and the brunette?" Hayden asked.

"Yes, they're safe. Look Hayden, we really need this information. You're our best bet, man. Can you do it?"

Hayden nodded smugly. "I'm good at what I do, Callen. Of course I can get you everything. In fact-"Hayden opened his backseat door and pulled out a small black HP laptop. Hayden placed the laptop in Callen's hands and added, "This has full access to our database and is untraceable even for NCIS. I had a feeling after hearing about Sam on the news that you three wouldn't be far behind."

"Thank you, Hayden. Why are you doing this- the repercussions are immense."

"Because Granger is a pain in the ass," Hayden stated proudly, "And although no one says it aloud, a lot of people, like me, are rooting for you to take that bastard down. I'm damn proud, Callen."

"Thanks," Callen took a step away from Hayden with the laptop under an arm, "By the way, it's not me you should be proud of; it's Special Agent Marty Deeks."

"If we see this guy again, thank him with Laker tickets."

Callen ignored the comment from Deeks as he opened the laptop that he received from Hayden. The meeting had taken place an hour ago and now Callen was sitting on a bed in the hotel room that the three agents had rented after arriving to Los Angeles. The drive from Goldfield was just as easy as the first parts of their long trip from Tonga.

As Callen opened up the NCIS database, Kensi, who was sitting with Deeks behind Callen, groaned, "Why is it that every time someone does something for you, your first idea of a thank you is always Laker tickets?"

"Cause-"

"Guys, let's focus," Callen said. On the database, he found multiple file folders that contained information about present cases, personal files, and NCIS procedures. At the very bottom of the screen, the agents spotted a file titled _OPS team- treason. _

"Sounds like us," Kensi commented as Callen opened the file. Oddly, only ten photos and one document opened onto the screen. "What does the document say?"

Callen quickly sped read over the main points of the document. "OK, it's the basic information about us- who we are, what we apparently did, and where we've been seen including Algeria and….huh, they thought we were in Europe at one point."

"That sounds like Eric's doing. I'll be sure to thank him with Lakers tickets as well," Deeks said, grinning at the eye roll coming from his partner.

Callen sighed in annoyance before exiting onto the main screen. "There's nothing really about us- we're the only thing Granger is focusing on! Why would there be so little information on the database?"

"Probably wanted to make sure nothing looked odd," Deeks suggested.

"Actually…." Kensi leaned over Callen's shoulder and peered at the screen. Mixed in the multiple files was a small notepad file titled _Docx1._ "That looks odd," Kensi stated.

"You're right," Callen replied before clicking on _Docx1_. The file opened up a white screen with what the three agents recognized to be flight information.

_-A.P_

_2012.11.22_

_United Airlines- Flight 4726_

_Ben Gurion International Airport (Jerusalem, Israel) to Los Angeles International Airport (Los Angeles, California, United States)_

_G. Lyons_

_2012. 11.24_

_American Airlines- Flight 234_

_Nadi International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport (Nadi, Fiji) to Los Angeles International Airport (Los Angeles, California, United States)_

"AP? If it's listed with Lyons, then it has to be our infiltrator, Alan Pendle," Deeks said, "Why are they here?"

"They both probably heard about Sam's arrest and think that it's safe to come back to LA," Callen replied, "This might be our chance, guys. If we can take at least one of them, it'll be our smoking gun to taking down Granger."

Deeks stood up and walked over to the wall. "But if we take down one, the other will either get every law enforcement agency within a five state radius on us. And on top of that, what if grab the wrong guy- I mean what if Pendle has some way out of this set up like a suicide pill from the James Bond movies-"

"Deeks!" Kensi and Callen exclaimed.

The probationary agent inhaled and exhaled deeply. "What I'm saying guys is this- taking down Lyons can help us prove that Granger is corrupt, but it won't help us prove too much more than that. If we go after Pendle, we have our infiltrator, but we don't have enough evidence to clearly link things back to Granger. So who do we go after?"


	33. Chapter 33

The three agents stared at each other, each one wondering the same thing- _Who's our guys?_

Deeks was sitting with his back against the wall, his mind focused on Lyons. He had he hated that man from the moment Lyons had walked through the OPS center doors. _Lyons is the one that gets things done for Granger and he keeps a tight eye on Pendle, _Deeks concluded, _He'd be missed if we were to capture him. _

The probationary huffed loudly. As much as he wanted to send that smug SOB to a 7X7 box in a federal prison for the rest of his life, Deeks knew that Pendle was the best choice for capture. He remembered seeing the malicious look in Pendle's eye while in Algiers; the same look that seemed to say _No one will ever catch me._

Kensi sat at the desk, twirling a few strands of hair with a finger. Even though her gaze was focused on her reflection in the small desk mirror that was in front of her, Kensi's mind was locked on the day that the team had found out that Deeks had ran off to Algiers without them. She remembered the fury she had felt towards Lyons and how, as much as she hated to admit it, she wanted to just hurt that man so much, whether they had found Deeks alive or not. Pendle was a just a thought in the back of her mind_ If we get Lyons, he can lead us to Pendle. Lyons is the key,_ Kensi thought as she continued on through her thoughts.

As Callen laid across the bed, he wasn't trying to figure out who to capture- he already knew. Pendle was the agent's choice as he was the one who had actually infiltrated NCIS. In Callen's mind, support was going more likely to come if the actual infiltrator was arrested and not the man facilitating it. His biggest concern was how to capture Pendle- the spy had landed in Los Angeles two days prior and could be anywhere in the large area of 12 million people. There was also the big issue of when it came down to it, should they capture Pendle or do worse matters?

"What are you thinking?" Deeks croaked after they had all sat for fifteen minutes in complete silence. Callen, who was resting his chin in his hands, pulled himself onto his knees. With a large sigh and a quick head scratch, Callen stated, "Pendle. He's our only proof that any of this is going on."

Kensi nodded, but her expression showed that she wasn't in agreement. "I actually think we should go after Lyons. He's been in the country for only a day, way after Pendle. He'll be a hell of a lot easier to catch than Pendle."

"No."

Kensi looked over to where her partner was sitting. He was looking at the ceiling fan above them that was slowly whirring in the background. Deeks repeated much louder, "No."

"Marty?" Kensi called out worriedly. Across from her, Callen was now on his feet next to the bed.

Deeks placed a hand on his knees. "Lyons will take us halfway to ending this, but Pendle...Pendle puts an end to this. My vote is for Pendle, but if we cross plans with Lyons, I can't promise me not beating his ass to the ground."

Callen cocked his head at Deeks' tone. The seriousness in the probationary agent's tone made Callen concern. He walked across the room over to where Deeks sat.

"So we do Pendle. Before we hunt this bastard down, I need to know that you can handle this, Deeks," Callen stated.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Deeks growled with a dark glare towards Callen. He got to his feet and stood inches away from Callen's face. In most situations, Callen was usually rational as a team leader should be. However, Callen was tired, irritable, and worried, which threw rational out the window. And with that, Callen said, "Because you're you, Deeks," which made Kensi cringe.

"Because I'm me?! What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Deeks yelled. Kensi stepped between the two men, her hands near their chests to stop them from lunging at each other.

"Both of you need to calm down. Marty, all Callen meant to ask is that although you are one of the strongest people that we know, if you are seriously pushed to the edge, you crack. Remember how you almost shot your old partner's murderer?" Kensi said, "Will you be able to hold onto yourself when you see Pendle and Lyons?"

"Yes," Deeks replied quietly. Callen sighed, glancing both ways before apologizing, "Sorry, Deeks. I should have phrased that better."

"Now that we're good," Kensi sent a glare between the two agents, "We need to figure out how we go after Pendle. He'll no doubt be paranoid about the three of us coming after him."

Deeks scratched his beard while glancing over to the laptop on the bed. "Actually, he won't. If he's arrogant enough to fly back to Los Angeles, his guard will be down. Callen, was there an address for Pendle or Lyons?"

"Yes. Lyons had a condo in Northern LA before all of this. Lyons will take care of Pendle so he could be there."

"So we're doing this," Deeks said with a little more pep, "What are we doing? Pre-surveillance or are we going to go in blind?"

Lyons will take care of Pendle. We can drive by at night and do surveillance look."

Callen and Kensi exchanged nervous looks, which made Deeks uneasy. The lead agent said, " This isn't an us thing, Deeks. Whatever we do, you can't come with us."


	34. Chapter 34

"What?! What do you mean I can't come?" Deeks exclaimed in disbelief. _ I didn't do all of this to sit on the side lines at the end, _the agent thought angrily.

"Deeks, to Lyons and Pendle, you are the equivalent of a gold mine," Callen stated. He pointed to Deeks' backpack where the probationary agent had carried a small USB drive carrying the proof that someone had infiltrated NCIS. "Under no circumstances can you come with us, especially since there's a chance that the OP could go bad."

"So you want me to sit here and twiddle my fingers?"

Kensi stepped in; she placed a hand on Deeks' shoulder and said, "Look at me. You can't come with us or this whole thing is over."

She quickly walked over to the laptop on the desk and pointed to the screen. "We know where Pendle is most likely to be and Callen and I will be more than enough people to go in survey the property and if need be, take him down tonight. Everything will be ok."

"Oh, you mean how things with Sam were supposed to be ok?" Deeks yelled, this time his anger directed at Callen. The lead agent only crossed his arms and allowed the probationary agent to vent out everything he needed. He knew that Deeks meant little harm by mentioning the failure of Sam's attempt to make it back into the States.

Kensi observed her partner closely as he turned away from her and put a hand on his forehead. The brunette agent chewed her lip nervously as she thought about how angry her next request would make her partner.

"Marty," Kensi said, deciding to use her partner's first name to keep him calm, "A few weeks ago, Callen and I started talking about what would happen if we ran out of all of our options. If something bad happens from this point on, I need you to….leave. I- we need you to go into hiding until things for sure cool over, which could take months or even years."

As expected, Deeks became furious. "You want me to go and leave you guys?! What- are we talking faking my own death or just letting this go for good?"

"You'd take everything we have and take it straight to the Director when everything's calm," Callen interjected, his comment making little difference in Deeks' anger.

"No! Hell no- we have gone through everything together! I'm not abandoning ship at the very end!"

Kensi stepped forward and kissed Deeks on the lips. "Just listen right now- no talking, ok?"

Deeks nodded nervously to let his partner continue. Kensi said in softer voice, " If we tell Granger that you're dead, someone needs to vouch that you're actually dead and Callen can't do that. I know that this is bad- like we may never see each other again bad, but it has to be done."

Deeks lifted his chin and kissed Kensi on the forehead. With a heavy sigh and a broken heart, he whispered, "I love you. Always have and always will."

"I know and I love you too. Promise that you'll do this?"

Deeks swallowed hard before reluctantly saying, " Yes."

* * *

><p>"<em>Deeks, run!" Kensi screams at the top of her lungs. Deeks turns around just to see Kensi collapse to the ground after being shot. Deeks doesn't have a chance to process what's going on before he sees Callen, Sam, Eric, Nell, and Hetty's dead bodies scattered in a field in front of him…..<em>

"No- no!" Deeks yelled as he shot up in a sweat from his nightmare. In his frenzy, Deeks reached for his gun and called out, " Kensi?"

When the probationary agent realized that he was sitting in the hotel room alone, Deeks dropped the gun on the bed and ran his hands through his shaggy hair. His nightmare was very similar to the ones he had been having ever since he left for Algeria. This nightmare had been more graphic and felt so real that the probationary agent was shaken to his core. To make matters worse, Deeks couldn't see or touch his partner alive in front of him as Callen and Kensi had left hours prior to hunt for Pendle.

"They're ok," Deeks repeated under his breath, "They'll walk through the door any second. Come on…"

As if on cue, the doorknob slowly began to turn. Deeks jumped to his feet and placed his backpack onto the ground. He also placed two folders over the laptop on the desk. The door slowly creaked open and Kensi and Callen walked in. Deeks opened his mouth to ask about Pendle, but changed his mind when he saw the pissed expression on both agents faces.

"Pendle's dead," Kensi exclaimed angrily as she dropped her backpack onto the floor, " After all this…I thought we had him!"

"What happened?" Deeks asked. Callen began to slowly pace across the room before he replied, " We were made and Pendle took a goddamn cyanide pill. He was dead before we could ask any questions."

"So what now?" Deeks asked, well knowing what the next words that Callen and Kensi would say.

"Deeks," Callen said suddenly in a soft voice, "This is it. You have to go."

"What?" Deeks whipped his head towards Callen, "Just because he's dead-"

Callen dropped his bag on the bed and sat down. "We're out of options with him being dead. You need to go and Kensi and I will figure something out."

"But-"

"Deeks, go!" Callen repeated.

"No…no…Screw giving Granger proof of me being dead. Kensi, just come with me," Deeks begged. Kensi took two steps back away from Deeks and sadly nodded no.

"Callen?" Deeks called out. The lead agent gave him a hug and whispered, " I'm proud of you. Stay safe."

Deeks nodded before turning and facing the door. Like when he had walked out of the safe house in Los Angeles months earlier, he was about to walk out of his life.

And this time, it would be for good.


	35. Chapter 35

**A/N: Assume that Hunter is still alive and that the Chameleon story line doesn't exist for this story**

**One Year later- Los Angeles OPS Center- 4am**

Assistant Director Owen Granger stepped into the Ops center on an early November morning to find the building completely empty. He had expected as much as none of the agents were expected to be at the office earlier than 9am. The new LA Special Ops team consisted of four very new, very inexperienced, and very afraid agents that complied with Granger's every wish. The office's new operations manager, Lauren Hunter, ran an efficient office where no one ever questioned his leadership.

As for the original team; Callen, Blye, Hanna, Beale, Jones, and Hetty were scattered in federal prisons throughout California. Every single one of them was in medium to high lockdown with little contact and zero chance of seeing the light of day. Granger had kept on lockdown just in case…just in case Blye's story about Deeks wasn't as perfect as it had sounded.

A year ago to the day, LAPD had received an anonymous phone call stating that a brunette and a blue eyed white male had killed a man in an abandoned warehouse. Granger had soon arrived to find a charred body and Callen and Blye who willingly turned themselves in. The best part for Granger was finding Blye a blubbering mess, crying that the burnt tee shirt that she had in her hands was the only thing that she had left of her dead partner, who had been supposedly killed trying to take down Pendle alone.

With everyone out of the picture, Granger was officially in the clear.

Today, Granger had planned to review over the work that he, Lyons, and the deceased Pendle had done over the past two years. Losing Pendle was unfortunate, but it wasn't a world ending thing. Pendle's death was quickly covered up to where no one knew that the burnt body was a man who sold US secrets for months.

_I need to run through the last of the money from Pendle's account, _Granger thought as he walked towards Hunter's desk to use her computer. The assistant director was looking through his phone while walking and didn't notice the figure sitting at Hunter's desk with their feet up on the table. It wasn't until Granger heard the cock of the gun that the man finally realized that he wasn't alone.

"I can have agents and LAPD here in less than five minutes," Granger called out, deciding against looking up to face the figure.

"By then, you'd be dead and I'd be out of here."

Granger smirked as he recognized the voice. It was none other than the voice of the supposedly dead Marty Deeks. The agent was branding a revolver in one hand and a folder in the other. Deeks now wore a thick beard and his hair was cut short. With the suit Deeks wore, the agent looked unrecognizable.

"Should have known," Granger chuckled.

"But you didn't. Sit down."

Granger placed his hands in his pocket and raised his eyebrows to challenge Deeks. Without even a blink, Deeks fired a shot at the ground, inches away from where Granger stood. The assistant director jumped to the side and yelled, "What the hell is a matter with you?"

"Sit down," Deeks growled through gritted teeth.

"I see faking your death and living under the radar has turned you into an animal," Granger snarled, "Where'd you get the suit? Did you kill a man for it? 'Cause it must be so hard to not be sitting in the woods, stirring in your own filth without your whore of a girlfriend-"

"SIT DOWN OR I WON'T MISS!" Deeks roared. With a dark glare, Granger walked up to Hunter's desk and sat down across from Deeks. The agent opened the file case and laid out two photos in front of Granger- one was of the charred body that had been with Kensi and Callen and the other of George Lyons, handcuffed to a chair in an empty, dark room.

"How did you…." Granger gasped, "I spoke to him last night."

Deeks replied simply, "7 hours ago. That's a bit of a time gap, Granger. It's such a bit of a time gap that I was able to get in and kidnap him, which was really too easy for an Interpol agent."

Granger glared hard at the agent and saw anger and darkness in the man's eyes that was frightening, even for Deeks. "So are you here to kill me?" Granger asked.

Deeks cocked his head ever so slightly. "I haven't slept, eaten, or taken a breath without having to watch my back for a year. My friends are lockdown, my girlfriend is in prison, and you get to walk around town like you own the place. As much as I'd like to kill you, I can't."

The agent stood up and started walking towards the OPS center side door. _What the hell…._Granger thought before turning towards the door and yelling, "Then why did you come here? Did you want to just say hello?"

Deeks stopped and looked back at Granger. "No, I came here to tell you that you will either be arrested or killed within the next 24 hours. I'm going to walk out that door and then you'll be your usual arrogant, asshole self and call every law enforcement agency within the state to hunt me down. But you will, by the end of this 24 hour period, either be arrested for treason, falsifying federal accusations and acts of terrorism if you're lucky or I will kill you. And for Lyons….let's just say I gift wrapped him for the government to find."

Deeks turned to walk off but Granger blurted out, "Blye was pregnant when you left. About three weeks, I think. She miscarried when she was six months- the same time when each of your team members were sentenced to jail for _life."_

Deeks tightened the grip on his gun. Granger had no idea how dangerous poking a homicidally, tired angry agent could be. He wanted to storm off or turn around and shoot the man, but the news of Kensi's miscarriage was making him freeze up.

_Kens was pregnant? Did she know before I had left?_ The agent tightened his jaw before taking what seemed like the hardest step of his life. He started to repeat in his head as he walked out of the OPS center one simple sentence,

_Everything is going to plan._


	36. Chapter 36

**Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center**

One hour.

23 hours had passed since Granger had last seen Deeks, leaving the agent one hour left to act on his threat. The agent had walked out of OPS and in Granger's belief, he disappeared into thin air. The assistant director had immediately called LAPD, the FBI, and the NCIS San Diego office to send every available man, woman, and police dog to help scour Los Angeles for Deeks.

And the search had turned up empty.

No sign of Deeks was beginning to trigger a severe sense of paranoia in the assistant director. He spent the last twenty three hours looking over his shoulder and holding onto his Sig like it was a life support. If it wasn't for his reputation of being feared, Granger would be wearing a bullet proof vest out in public. The man was about to take desperate measures to find the agent, but an idea popped in his head.

There was only person that would get Deeks out of hiding- Kensi Blye.

Now, Granger marched down the hallway that led to Sector 4-B at the detention center. Kensi was on lockdown in her own cell far away from Nell Jones, who was also at this detention center. The last time Granger had seen Kensi was on the anniversary of Deeks' disappearance where he had tortured the woman with reminders of her miscarriage and jokes about Deeks' "death". He had taken the most pleasure in the surrendering look in the agent's eyes. It was the same one that Nell, Eric, Callen, Sam, and hell, even Henrietta had.

He found Kensi being escorted from the medical bay and back to her cell. The previous week, Granger had heard that she had gotten sick for unknown reasons.

"I'll take her," Granger told the security officer that was escorting Kensi. The officer held up his hand and stepped back while Granger grabbed the handcuffs that held Kensi's hands behind her back.

"What do you want?" Kensi said in a lifeless voice. If it wasn't for the clock ticking on Deeks' threat, Granger would have snarled or spat in her face.

"Your boyfriend's alive," Granger said with a smirk. His comment sparked life into Kensi as her eyes widened. Granger pushed Kensi forward towards the sector entrance. "He put a death threat on me that expires in one hour. Let's go see if he was bluffing."

**Conning River, Simi Valley- 40 minutes from Los Angeles**

"Granger, what the hell are you doing?" Kensi yelled as she stood at the edge of the bridge that overlooked Conning River. The brunette agent was inches away from falling into the river, but was being held in place by Granger. He held a gun to her head and had a tight grasp on her shoulder. The bridge was blocked from traffic for construction, which meant no one was around to hear Kensi call out for help.

"Like I said before, I'm seeing if Special Agent Marty Deeks is really big and bad as he acts," Granger said. He quickly looked down to his watch and saw that four minutes was left on Deeks' threat. "I have torn apart Los Angeles looking for that moron and I can't seem to find him! I know he's watching me so let's see if his girlfriend almost dying will bring him out to play!"

Granger pushed Kensi onto her knees and then looked outward to the river. "I know that you're out there, Deeks! You've been following me like a rat- I know it! four five minutes left on the threat so come out like a man and face me!"

"Granger," Kensi yelled, "Deeks isn't here-"

Granger ignored her. "You want an incentive to come out, _Agent_? Well, here it is!" He grabbed Kensi's neck and began to squeeze. With her hands still in handcuffs, Kensi couldn't fight back.

"Stop…" Kensi gasped as she struggled for air. _Granger's losing it! It's been a year- Deeks couldn't be back in LA…Could he?"_

Granger yelled louder, "I'll kill her, Deeks. Three minutes!"

_Try and talk him out of this. _"Gra-Granger…he isn't…..here," Kensi gasped.

Granger pulled her close to his body with his hand still around her neck. "He's here- I saw him at the OPS Center. That bastard is alive and if he doesn't show himself," Granger turned back to the river, "Kensi Marie Blye will be dead!"

"Even if he was…he wouldn't…..stalk you. Deeks isn't here….."

"Listen, you little bitch!" Granger sneered at Kensi. "Don't you try any of those let's talk-this- guy-off-of-a-ledge speeches. I've been doing this since before you were born. Two minutes!"

Kensi's vision started to blur. "You're killing me…."

"Good! Then that gives Deeks a reason to come out and an opportunity for me to finally put a bullet in his brain! 90 seconds!"

Kensi eyes began to flutter as she began to lose consciousness. She suddenly heard Granger growl in her ear, "You had to be angry at Deeks that day, didn't you? At China Lake back in September- it you hadn't put Deeks a damn time out, he wouldn't have found those codes and things would be smooth sailing! "Thirty seconds, Deeks!"

Kensi felt a tear run down her face. She knew she didn't have thirty seconds.

If Deeks didn't show up or a miracle didn't happen, she'd die.


	37. Chapter 37

_Boom._

"Argh…damn it!"

Kensi opened her eyes and felt the grip around her neck loosen. Her hands immediately went to neck as she struggled to catch her breath. In front of her, Granger had fallen back at the loud boom and was now on his back. His arm was soaked in blood that was already spilling onto the pavement. While the assistant director screamed out in pain, Kensi pulled herself up onto her knees to face Granger.

_What the hell was that noise? _Kensi thought as she scanned the bridge in a panic. Her eyes fell on a spent and bloody .50 caliber bullet lying next to Granger. It meant one thing to her- there was a sniper in the area.

"You little bitch! Call 911!" Granger spat at Kensi. The brunette agent responded by grabbing Granger's gun, which had fallen onto the pavement when Granger had been shot. Kensi stood and aimed the gun at Granger while praying that the sniper wasn't planning on shooting her too.

"Not on your life," Kensi growled. She felt her finger tremble while on the trigger. She wanted to shoot this man so much.

"You think you can do it? Deeks couldn't!" Granger growled. He leaned onto his side, pressing a hand against the wound.

"You're going to lose that arm," Kensi said. She paused when she began to hear the sound of police sirens. "You want me to shoot off the other?"

Granger suddenly tried to reach for the gun in Kensi's hand, but the agent took a step back. Kensi nodded no and looked up to see police cars and SUVs drive onto the bridge. Police officers and NCIS agents jumped out of their cars and SUVs, drawing weapon and yelling, "LAPD! NCIS! Put the gun down! "

Kensi placed the gun on the pavement and kicked it away from Granger. She put her hands in the air and yelled, " I'm Special Agent Kensi Blye and I was brought here by Assistant Director Granger against my will! I didn't fire any weapons!"

Two male police officers ran to her side- the younger of the two men pulled Kensi towards the herd of police cars at the edge of the bridge. As she was pulled away, Kensi looked over her shoulder to see a group of police officers and agents surround Granger with weapons aimed at the assistant director.

"What the hell?" Kensi gasped. She pushed off the officer next to her and demanded, " Who authorized this arrest?"

"I did, Agent Blye," a voice from behind Kensi said. She spun around to see none other than NCIS Director Leon Vance. The director slowly approached Kensi, saying, " Unless you have a problem with that?"

"How did you….when did you-"

"You're wondering why I arrested Granger and why I'm not worrying about you being out of prison right now," Vance said. He crossed his arms behind his back and showed what Kensi could assume to be the smallest hint of a smile. "A man who was supposedly dead approached me a few months ago with damming evidence against Granger. I gave him time to find the conspirators and the lead to take down that son of a bitch down."

Kensi cocked her head in confusion before something in the forest caught her attention. She stepped around Vance to see a dark figure holding a sniper rifle emerging from the forest. A grin suddenly appeared on her face when she saw the figure to be her partner and boyfriend, Marty Deeks.

"Told you I'd come back," Deeks said as he walked up and pulled Kensi into a tight hug. She looked up at Deeks and kissed him on the lips. "I didn't doubt you for a second, "she laughed.

"I know. Sorry it took me so long."

Kensi gave me a light punch in the arm. " Yeah, about that- a year? What- did you stop for coffee?"

"Ah, well you know…." Deeks looked over to Vance, who was handcuffing Granger. The blonde haired agent called out, "Director Vance, may I do the honors?"

Vance nodded and forced Granger to face Deeks and Kensi. Deeks cleared his throat before saying, "I've been waiting a year and a half to do this. Assistant Director Owen Granger, you are formally under arrest for treason, false accusations against seven awesome federal employees-"

Kensi nudged Deeks in the ribs. " Focus."

"I am. You are also under arrest for aiding and abetting two other douches in committing treason, one being crispy and the other in prison-"

"Agent Deeks…." Vance warned.

"I'm doing it! You have the right to remain silent, which knowing you- you aren't going to use. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, I will raise five types of hell to stop you from getting an attorney to get off those charges-"

"Close enough," Vance sighed before dragging Granger over to a black SVU. When Vance was out of earshot range, Kensi turned to Deeks and asked, " How did you get Vance on our side?"

"I waited until six months ago before climbing into the back window of his home and telling him everything," Deeks said. He remembered standing in the director's living room on a rainy night, praying that Vance would listen without shooting him. "Oddly enough, he listened and then gave me the resources and time to hunt down the only person who could really serve as proof of Granger's wrongdoings- Lyons."

"Hmm, I see," Kensi said softly. She watched the SUV carrying Vance and Granger drive away. " Marty, why did you kill him?"

Deeks inhaled deeply before replying. "After all this time, me shooting him dead would be allowing him to get off easy. He'll be going to Guantanamo where he'll suffer for the rest of his life. But I don't want to talk about that- I want to talk about good things…like getting our friends out of jail."


	38. Chapter 38

**U.S State Penitentiary- Atwater**

"G. Callen?"

Callen looked up from the cards in his hands to see a penitentiary officer standing at his cell door. His cell mate, a second in command Arian sect leader from Northern California, looked up to the Callen before closing his eyes and pretending to go to sleep. In the year that Callen had been at Atwater, Callen's cell mate had learned the hard way not to mess with the agent.

"That's me," Callen called out. He dropped the cards on his bed and walked over to the door with crossed arms. The officer held up a pair of silver handcuffs and replied, " Grab your things. You're going on a trip."

"Where exactly am I going?" Callen asked as he grabbed his only belongings- his only family picture and a photo of the team out for drinks from two years ago. The officer mustered up what looked like a half crooked smile. "You're going home, Agent."

Callen stopped in his tracks, mouth agape. " Home?"

"Yes, home. You're being released, Agent Callen, congratulations."

Once he was processed, Callen walked out of the front doors of the prison and into the Los Angeles sun. Under Granger's rules, he hadn't seen a whole lot of sunshine being in a high security prison. Callen winced at the brightness in his eyes and put on his sunshades that had been sitting in storage for a year.

"Damn, you don't do well without sunlight."

Callen grinned as he saw Sam standing at the prison gate. The dark skinned agent was wearing jeans, a black tee, and a NCIS jacket. Callen laughed and started walking towards his partner.

"Guess I was born to need some sunlight," Callen joked. He quickly hugged his partner, who patted him on the back. Callen pulled away and exclaimed, "What the hell happened? How'd we get out?"

"Apparently, Shaggy came through," Sam said with smile. Callen nodded and chuckled, " Deeks….damn. Speaking of- where is he?"

"He's with Kensi at the cliff where we all had out first case together as a team. Nell, Eric, and Hetty are going to meet us there," Sam replied as they started walking towards a black SUV sitting in the parking lot, " Hell of a reunion spot, don't you think?"

"What did you expect?"

**Northern Los Angeles**

"Any reason you picked this spot?" Kensi asked softly. Both agents were sitting at the edge of the cliff while waiting for their teammates to arrive.

Deeks shrugged as he pulled his girlfriend close to him. "It's the spot where you decided that I was a sucky liaison, remember?"

"Yeah- you still were a sucky liaison though."

Deeks snorted. "I wasn't _that_ bad."

"Oh yes, you were. But I have to say, you're a hell of an agent."

"Thank you, Kensalina," Deeks looked out to where he could see the city skyline. It was dusk in Los Angeles where the sun was setting slowly, creating a beautiful red horizon for them to see.

"What happens next?" Kensi suddenly asked as she laid her head on his shoulder.

"You marry me."

Kensi smiled, not the least bit shocked at his suggestion. She laced her fingers within his and said, " As long as ….you never cut your hair."

"_Done_," Deeks replied enthusiastically, " I am _never _cutting off my gorgeous locks ever again."

Within a few minutes, Kensi and Deeks saw two SUVs and Hetty's sports car pull up to the cliff. Sam and Callen stepped out of a black SUV just as Eric and Nell stepped out of a Lexus SUV. The team's operations manager wasn't too far behind as she stepped out of her sports car, which was in the same condition as it had been a year ago. The group of agents and analysts all embraced each other with hugs, laughter, and thanks to Hetty, a bottle of Charles Noellat Richebourg Grand Cru wine.

The team quickly toasted twice, once to Deeks' although long, yet successful takedown of Granger and a second to their freedom and the new possibilities that the future had for them. They all knew that they couldn't go back to be agents again- the trust in the agency had been broken and their faces had been everywhere around the world. At the time, no one knew where and what their future would have for them.

Six months after being released, Sam Hanna had moved his family to Washington D.C so that the ex-SEAL could liaison communications between active SEALs in the Pacific and the Capitol. As expected, G Callen followed Sam to DC and became a Section Chief of the counter terrorism department in the CIA.

Nell Jones had decided to move back home to her family to get a change in scenery three weeks after release. She became a head analyst at the headquarters of a national communications chain. Her reunion with her family had gone incredibly well, especially with her family meeting Eric Beale, her new boyfriend.

Henrietta Lange retired for good, finally taking her boat across the Atlantic to a small cottage on the White Cliffs of Dover in the UK. She kept a relatively quiet life, which included keeping constant communication with the team, attempting golf, and flying to Cuba to see the execution of Owen Granger. She was the only one who went.

Marty Deeks and Kensi Blye had stayed true to their promise to get married. A small wedding a week after Deeks' return was all they needed before they moved to Paris to be consultants with Interpol. A year later, they welcomed Ananya Henrietta Deeks into the world, god daughter to everyone on the team. They kept in touch with the rest of the team almost daily through Skype, letters and flights home.

And even in the peace that they all found, every time one of them saw a red horizon in the sky, they remembered the adventure that changed their lives.

For good.

**The End**

**A/N: A year later and Red Horizon is complete. Thanks for reading!**


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